Channel Cat, Ya Primo headed for rematch in Sword Dancer

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The prospect of a rematch between Channel Cat and Ya Primo should be worth the price of admission alone after the connections of the first- and second-place finishers in Saturday’s Grade 2 Bowling Green acknowledged both horses would definitely be pointed for the Grade 1 Sword Dancer here on August 24.

Channel Cat surprisingly set all the pace before turning back a determined bid from the Chilean-bred Ya Primo to register a half-length victory in the 1 3/8-mile Bowling Green, a race which saw the top seven finishers separated by only two lengths at the wire. Channel Cat, who had never been on the early lead in any of his 15 previous starts, was cleverly handled on the front end by jockey Luis Saez before digging down deep to repulse a determined rally from Ya Primo, who appeared to have stuck his nose in front between calls inside the sixteenth pole.

Channel Cat, a son of English Channel whom Pletcher trained to win more than $5 million during his racing career, earned a lifetime-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure for his performance in the Bowling Green.

“The race didn’t necessarily unfold the way Luis and I had discussed it in the paddock,” Pletcher said after training hours on Sunday. “We knew there wasn’t a lot of pace, and the strategy was to let him run out of there and get over to try and save some ground and not get caught out wide in a three-turn race. He put in a long and pretty sustained five-furlong run, and I’d say this was definitely the best race he’s run so far.”

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The Bowling Green was the fifth win for Channel Cat, who finished a disappointing third as the 9-5 favorite in the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park in his previous start, and swelled his lifetime earnings to more than $738,000.

“I always felt he was a horse who’d get better as he got older, which is a trend with the English Channels,” said Pletcher. “And I can see some definite similarities between him and his sire. He can be a little tricky to ride with his high head carriage, I had to put blinkers on him for a while, but now it’s all starting to come together. The one thing that stood out is that when he won that stakes last year at Laurel, it was over kind of bottomless ground – just like the track English Channel ran over when he won the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Monmouth. He’s quietly amassed a pretty nice bankroll already, although you don’t see too many run up $5 million plus like his father did.”

Ya Primo was making his U.S. debut and first start since becoming a Group 1 winner in his native Chile more than four months earlier. And his new trainer, Chad Brown, believes the Bowling Green should serve as a perfect stepping-stone for the Sword Dancer on Travers day.

“He ran really well and he should get a lot out of that race,” said Brown. “It looked like on the screen he might have stuck his head in front in late stretch. He was training really well going into the race, but he was up against some seasoned horses who have been running on a regular basis. I was really proud of the way he ran. The winner was very game. He had every chance to quit after carving out all the fractions. I thought both horses ran really well.”