Report: 4-time Grade 1 winner Channel Maker is retired at age 9

Channel Maker, a durable Eclipse Award-winning gelding who raced 56 times and earned nearly $4 million, was retired after finishing next to last in his final race, Daily Racing Form reported Saturday.

Co-owner Adam Wachtel told DRF’s David Grening he hoped Channel Maker would find his next home at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, not far from where the 9-year-old ran Friday at Keeneland.

The four-time Grade 1 winner trained most of his career by Hall of Famer Bill Mott was the champion male turf horse of 2020 on the strength of top-level victories in the Sword Dancer and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Channel Maker also won the 2018 Joe Hirsch and the 2019 Man o’ War (G1).

From his record six starts in the Breeders’ Cup, Channel Maker had a career-best third in the 2020 Turf at Keeneland, finishing a length behind first-place Tarnawa and second-place Magical.

Channel Maker’s last win came July 30 in the Bowling Green (G1) at Saratoga. That was followed by his sixth-place result in the Sword Dancer and then Friday’s 11th-place disappointment in the Sycamore (G3) at Keeneland.

“It’s time,” Wachtel told DRF.

Owned by Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R.A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, the 9-year-old English Channel gelding was bred in Canada by Tall Oaks Farm. He finished with a record of 56: 10-6-5 and earnings of $3,915,983.