Cross of the Week: English Channel x Horse Chestnut

It was another Grade I victory on Saturday for Channel Maker, who won his third career Grade I in the Sword Dancer, his first victory since =the 2019 Grade I Man O’ War Stakes.

The 6-year-old gelding is one of nine Grade I winners for Calumet Farm’s underrated sire English Channel, who has sired 52 stakes winners from 603 runners for a 8.62% strike rate. The mostly turf sire also has 13.93% stakes horses from runners rate with 84 stakes horses coming in 10 different countries.

Among those English Channel has proven to nick well with when siring stakes horses is South Africa-based Horse Chestnut, who is the damsire of both Channel Maker and his Grade I winning full brother Johnny Bear. Out of stakes winning In Return, both are also Canadian champions with that mare earning 2018 Canadian Broodmare of the Year honors thanks to their on-track exploits.

English Channel’s success with Horse Chestnut admittedly looks better thanks to a truly good broodmare in In Return but the cross has had four winners from four runners overall.

In addition to Channel Maker, Toma Todo (out of Horse Chestnut’s unraced Henna) has two stakes placings this year. The 3-year-old colt first finished second in a stakes at Sam Houston before finishing third in the John Battaglia Memorial.

The fourth of the winners is Toma Todo’s full brother Cable Channel, who won by 11 lengths on debut at Calder in 2018. Though he showed early promise, he hasn’t found the heights of the other runners during his career.

Not surprisingly, Horse Chestnut is the only Fort Wood son to have daughters visit English Channel but he’s not the only Sadler’s Wells grandson to do so.

Johnny Bear and Channel Maker are the two Grade I winners on the English Channel x Sadler’s Wells great granddaughter cross but that cross has four other graded stakes winners with all four out of Kitten’s Joy (a grandson of Sadler’s Wells through El Prado) mares.

Overall, the English Channel x Sadler’s Wells great-granddaughter cross has produced 18 winners from 21 runners.

In a final note on the cross, Sadler’s Wells granddaughters have thrown a further two stakes winners (including Grade III winner Channel Lady) and 15 winners from 21 runners by English Channel with the mares by six different Sadler’s Wells sons.