04.22.21
ENGLISH CHANNEL STILL GOING STRONG AT CALUMET FARM
By: Blood Horse
Photo Credit:
English Channel Still Going Strong at Calumet Farm – BloodHorse
Look Back: Last year’s leading turf sire earned well-deserved Eclipse Award in 2007
Of the 12 fillies and mares entered for the 59th running of the Bewitch Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland April 23, four are daughters of Calumet Farm stallion English Channel. Coincidentally three (War Like Goddess , Margaret’s Joy , and English Affair ) have been bred by Calumet, and of those, the last-named will run under the Calumet banner. The sole outlier is Dixiana Farms-bred Three Flamingos .
It is rather fitting that a Calumet stallion sire the majority of the Bewitch entries as the race’s namesake was a Calumet homebred who won the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in 1948, the year Calumet’s Citation won the Triple Crown. Coincidentally, it was Bewitch, a daughter of Calumet’s premier stallion Bull Lea, who handed Citation, also by Bull Lea, his lone loss as a 2-year-old, defeating him by a length in the Washington Park Futurity at Washington Park in Chicago.
Whether one English Channel daughter defeats another in the Bewitch remains to be seen, but these multiple entries indicate that some eight decades later another Calumet stallion is taking a rightful place beside Bull Lea (and later Alydar) as a leading sire.
Bull Lea headed the North American leading sires list five times; Alydar, once. And English Channel, who led the turf sires last year, might be poised to repeat that champion sire title in 2021. Not anything out of the ordinary for this chestnut son of Sam-Son Farm’s Mr. Prospector colt and its outstanding broodmare Classy ‘n Smart, Smart Strike. Twice a general leading North American sire, Smart Strike earned his first title in 2007, partly thanks to the talented English Channel who ruled as the champion turf male.
Bred by Keene Ridge Farm in Kentucky, English Channel is out of the unraced Belva, the probable source of his turf prowess from both sides of her pedigree. Her sire Theatrical (Nureyev) was champion grass horse in 1987, having scored in six grade 1 turf events, and her dam, Committed, raced in Europe, where she was multiple champion over French turf.
James Scatuorchio purchased English Channel for $50,000 at the 2003 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The well-made chestnut showed his penchant for the turf from the start. His best performance came when he won the Virginia Derby (G3T) at Colonial Downs and ran second in the Secretariat Stakes (G1T) and, against older horses, in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes (G1T).
Trainer Todd Pletcher had English Channel in form at 4, and he won his first top-level event in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) undercard. Although two more grade 1s, including the Joe Hirsch, came in his next five races, he failed to earn the championship title that his 5-year-old season would bring.
After taking his season opener, an allowance at Gulfstream Park, English Channel shipped to the UAE, where he had the worst finish of his career in the Dubai Duty Free (G1) at Nad Al Sheba. Back in the States, he won his second consecutive United Nations Stakes (G1T) and repeated in the Joe Hirsch. His final race came in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T), and third time was the charm. On a rain-soaked turf at Monmouth Park, English Channel laid waste to an international field of turf runners to win by seven lengths. A much-deserved championship soon followed.
English Channel raced four years and earned more than $5.3 million in his 23 starts. His offspring are much in his mold, running late into their careers and preferring turf. He has sired seven champions in his 56 black-type winners, including 2020 champion turf male Channel Maker .