Maker saddles three in bid for eighth Connally Turf Cup win

A very strange thing happened last January at Sam Houston Race Park – Mike Maker failed to win the John B. Connally Turf Cup.

Six years in a row – and seven times in eight years – Maker trained the Connally winner. In 2020, his horses ran second and third.

“Rough trips, not a lot of luck,” Maker explained.

Undaunted, Maker is back with three horses to try and win the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally for the eighth time in a decade. Ajourneytofreedom, Conviction Trade, and Marzo carry the Maker banner in this 1 1/2-mile turf contest, all three capable entrants.

Maker has made an excellent living claiming older grass horses with an eye toward racing them at longer distances; Ajourneytofreedom and Conviction Trade fall into that category. Maker and owners Paradise Farms and David Staudac claimed both horses last year, Ajourneytofreedom for $80,000, Conviction Trade for $50,000.

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Ajourneytofreedom has two fifth-place finishes and a fourth since joining Maker’s barn, though the losses have come by six lengths combined. Ajourneytofreedom ran well in all three starts, the Belmont Derby over 1 1/4 miles and a pair of listed stakes at shorter distances. Ajourneytofreedom, a brother to Grade 2 turf-stakes winner Anothertwistafate, lost considerable ground in the Belmont Derby, had to cope with post 13 in the Bryan Station at Keeneland, and found the 1 1/16 miles of his last start, the Nov. 27 Gio Ponti at Aqueduct, unsuitably short.

“It’s been one thing or another with him – too much to do, wide, etc.” Maker said. “Finally, we get to stretch him out to what we think he wants to do, going longer.”

Ajourneytofreedom, from publicly available video, appears to have worked well in recent dirt breezes at Palm Meadows and might have the best chance of the Makers.

Conviction Trade comes off a second-place finish in the two-mile Allen Jerkens, where he loped along on the lead before being outkicked by upset winner Sir Anthony.

“I don’t think a mile and a half is any problem,” Maker said. “I think he’ll be on the lead.”

Marzo finished third in this race a year ago with no strong excuse. In August, he flopped on soft turf at Saratoga, then suffered a bout of colic that compromised the rest of his 2020 campaign. His comeback race Dec. 31 came over Turfway’s synthetic track, which he clearly failed to handle.

“Chalk it up as a work. He didn’t like the track and he needed the race anyway,” Maker said.

Spooky Channel, another Florida shipper, is the track’s 5-2 morning-line favorite for trainer Bryan Lynch and jockey Julien Leparoux. In December 2019, Spooky Channel returned from a layoff in the 1 1/16-mile Appleton at Gulfstream, was beaten 3 1/2 lengths, and then won the 1 1/2-mile McKnight there. Last month, Spooky Channel returned from a layoff, was beaten 3 1/2 lengths in the Appleton, and now stretches out to 1 1/2 miles. The parallels are downright spooky.