Channel Maker targets next summer's Queen's Plate

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Channel Maker, who finished seventh in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 4, has been sent to a farm in Ocala, Fla., where he’ll get a freshening before preparing for next summer’s Queen’s Plate.

“He’s turned out in a big field,” trainer Daniel Vella said. “He’s doing fantastic. Our focus now really is the Queen’s Plate and the Canadian races for next year. He’ll go down to Gulfstream around the middle of December.”

Vella will have a string at Gulfstream Park this winter. He said if everything goes well, Channel Maker would likely make a start at Gulfstream Park, but did not have a specific race in mind.

Vella added he was pleased with Channel Maker’s performance in the Breeders’ Cup, considering the quality of the competition. Oscar Performance won the Juvenile Turf, with Lancaster Bomber second and Good Samaritan third.

“I think we could have been fourth,” he said. “I think he got a little immature down the stretch when they swarmed around him. He started ducking in and out a little bit. The horse that won and the horse that was third are exceptional 2-year-old grass horses. I have to give those two horses a lot of credit.”

Vella said Channel Maker can get better moving forward into his 3-year-old season.

“He’s an English Channel, and he’s going to mature well and he’s going to get a distance,” he said. “Very few English Channels hit their peak at 2, so we think he has a very bright future.”