Channel Marker dangerous off class drop

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Channel Marker enters Friday’s eighth race at Churchill Downs in the poorest form of his career, having recorded a pair of rear-half finishes in his last two starts while racing in stakes.

Bettors won’t be expecting that shaky form to last, however. Dropped into a second-level allowance with a $62,500 claiming option, Channel Marker looks poised to rebound in the eighth and is the 3-1 morning-line favorite against eight rivals going five furlongs on turf.

He easily leads in turf earnings, having made $130,546 in eight starts on grass. That is almost double the turf bankroll of the next-highest earner, Anyriderrill Do, who has made $66,581.

Channel Marker also excels going short on turf, having been in the exacta in five of six starts in such races, with the exception coming in his last race April 12, when 10th in the Grade 3 Shakertown behind Marchman at Keeneland while returning from a 2 1/2-month layoff.

That Shakertown was one of the better turf sprints this year, reflected by Marchman returning to win the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.

With a comeback race behind Channel Marker, and following a swift half-mile work over the Churchill Downs main track in 48.60 seconds May 9, a return to form looks to be in order against easier competition. He races for the $62,500 claiming price.

Shaun Bridgmohan rides for Al Stall Jr., who trains Channel Marker, a 5-year-old gelded son of Purim, for owners St. George Farm Racing and David Ingordo.

Two minor stakes winners, The Absolute One and Visionary Ruler, are among the leading challengers.

The Absolute One, claimed from a $25,000 race he won when sprinting on grass at Fair Grounds on March 2, now joins the successful claiming connections of trainer Tom Amoss and owner Midwest Thoroughbreds.

As for Visionary Ruler, a statebred stakes winner in New Jersey in 2012, he is untested on turf and would see his chances improve if rain, forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, sticks around into Friday and results in the eighth race being transferred to the main track.

He led throughout in a $40,000 claiming race on Keeneland’s Polytrack in his last start April 13.

◗ As usual, Churchill Downs has late-afternoon racing Friday, with the first post at 2:45 Eastern and the featured eighth set for 6:22.