Turf Sprint: Channel Marker tries to take Bauer to big dance

Channel Marker could be the first Breeders’ Cup starter for 30-year-old Kentucky native Phil Bauer. The horse’s road to the championship series runs through Keeneland on Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Woodford. The 5 1/2-furlong race is a key prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, which will be run over the same distance and course Oct. 31.

“We’re hoping everything comes together,” said Bauer, who trains Channel Marker for Richard and Tammy Rigney. “The division is so difficult. Every week there’s new contenders, fillies and mares as well. It makes it that much tougher. We’ve got our fingers crossed everything comes together.”

Channel Marker put himself under serious consideration for the Breeders’ Cup in June, when he won the Grade 3 Jaipur at Belmont Park. The score came over a course rated “good,” and Bauer would not mind seeing similar conditions Saturday at Keeneland.

“They’re calling for a little bit of rain,” he said Wednesday. “I like the forecast. It looks like there could be a little moisture in the track, and he likes it like that.”

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Channel Marker gave Bauer his first graded stakes win in the Jaipur. Bauer became a head trainer in August 2013, joining Rigney Racing. Bauer, who grew up in Louisville, Ky., is a private trainer for the Rigneys after spending about three years as assistant trainer for Ken McPeek. Channel Marker was a $62,500 claim in May 2014 at Churchill Downs. He made his first start for his new connections in March.

“The Rigneys are patient,” Bauer said. “They do whatever the horse needs, and that was the case with Channel Marker. He needed a break. We’ve got a fresh horse this year. We’re excited. You can’t really be a part of this game without a little bit of dreaming.”

Bauer said the Rigneys have co-owned such notable horses as Noble’s Promise and Dream Empress, both of whom placed in Breeders’ Cup races as 2-year-olds. More recently, the couple has been building their own stable. They are based in Kentucky.

“We’re trying to grow our stable through yearling purchases and claims,” Bauer said. “The Rigneys currently have two broodmares. The first homebreds are yearling age.”

Francisco Torres has the mount on Channel Marker, who won an allowance over the Keeneland turf in October 2013 and was second in the track’s Grade 3 Shakertown in April. The horse comes into the Woodford off a fifth-place finish in the $180,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Dash on Sept. 14. It was his first start since the Jaipur on June 6.