Channel Maker, Mighty Heart make 2022 debuts in Saturday stakes at Keeneland

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Eclipse Award champion Channel Maker looks to right the ship in the Grade 2, $350,000 Elkhorn Stakes and Canadian Horse of the Year Mighty Heart tops the field for the Grade 3, $300,000 Ben Ali Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.

The 10-race Saturday card, which was drawn on Wednesday, has a first post of 1 p.m. The Elkhorn is carded as race 9, and multimillionaire Channel Maker is seeking his first victory since winning a pair of Grade 1 events in New York in 2020, prior to finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland to lock up an Eclipse as outstanding turf male. In his most recent outing, he was fifth in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar.

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Channel Maker faces another notable winner here in Two Emmys, winner of the Grade 1 Mr. D. Stakes, formerly the Arlington Million, last summer. He showed an affinity for the Keeneland course when second by a neck in the Grade 3 Sycamore last fall at this marathon distance, and is coming off a win at Fair Grounds in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial.

From the rail out, the field of nine for the Elkhorn is Bemma's Boy, Sole Volante, Two Emmys, Phantom Currency, Channel Maker, Tiberius Mercurius, Cullum Road, Bama Breeze, and Another Mystery.

One race earlier, two-time reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Mighty Heart heads a field of eight for the Ben Ali. The popular one-eyed millionaire is making his first start of the year. He faces fellow graded stakes winners Scalding, Title Ready, and Warrant, as well as Dynamic One and Proxy, both of whom were graded stakes-placed 3-year-olds of 2021.

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From the rail out, the field is Cowboy Diplomacy, Mighty Heart, Proxy, Dynamic One, Warrant, Tartufo, Scalding, and Title Ready.

There are also three allowance-level events on the Saturday card.