Owners Gary Barber, Randy Hill, Dean Reeves and Adam Wachtel thought it might be time to have a conversation they all dreaded with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott regarding the future of Channel Maker.

The owners had watched their 9-year-old gelding lose his seventh consecutive race when no match for most of his 12 rivals when weakening badly to be 10^th in the two-mile Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup on June 9 at Belmont Park. Channel Maker had not won since July 8, 2022, when he took the Grand Couturier Stakes at Belmont. In the Belmont Gold Cup, he bore no resemblance to the gallant front-runner who made a record sixth appearance in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships last November at Keeneland.

Channel Maker in November 2022. (Eclipse Sportswire)

As a millionaire nearly four times over, Channel Maker owed the ownership group nothing. Perhaps the time had come for them to provide him with the best possible retirement. Mott, whose meticulous care of his horses helps so many of them age gracefully, appreciated their concern. He noted that Channel Maker was still training well and continued to be sound. He thought the gelding deserved another shot at Saratoga, a course on which he had long thrived.

They settled on the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes on July 30 as a possible finale. “We were prepared if he was up the track and couldn’t do it anymore, we would retire him,” said Wachtel.

Instead, the chestnut son of English Channel turned back the clock for one memorable afternoon and provided fans at Saratoga Race Course with yet another gate-to-wire blitz. Under jockey Manny Franco’s snug hold, he set comfortable fractions as the lone speed in the 1 3/8-mile Bowling Green and delivered a stirring two-length victory.

“I know he’s 9, but he feels like he’s 9,” Franco said afterward.

Since the New York Racing Association prohibits horses from running at 10, fans can savor one last Saratoga appearance by Channel Maker in the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes on Saturday. It may be asking a lot, but this is no ordinary runner.

The Ontario-bred has made 54 starts, winning 10 of them, with all 10 victories coming in stakes races. He has been second on six occasions and finished third five times. His earnings stand at a robust $3,890,358.

He was honored as Canada’s top 3-year-old in 2017. Three years later, he won the Eclipse Award as the champion male turf horse after achieving his finest Breeders’ Cup result. He ran third in the always-tough Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland, making him North America’s top finisher that year.

Wachtel commented on standing with Mott the other day to watch Channel Maker train with his usual vigor.

“Have you ever had another horse like this?” Wachtel asked.

For all of the aging stars he has overseen, Mott could not think of one quite like Channel Maker.

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“He just loves being a racehorse. He loves to train,” Wachtel said. “He’s healthy. He looks tremendous. He’s been able to avoid serious injuries throughout his career.”

Said Hill: “He keeps going. He keeps going. I can’t begin to tell you how great it has been to have a horse like this. You can’t be more proud of a horse than the four of us are.”

Hill was quick to note the importance of the role Mott and his staff played in the gelding’s rare longevity.

“Bill Mott is a Hall of Fame trainer for a reason, not just for winning but the way he takes care of his horses,” the owner said. “I can’t specifically tell you what he does. Every horse is different. He does it differently for every horse.”

Channel Maker made it easy, in one sense, because of his remarkable durability and because life at the track suits him so well.

“He’s been with us since he was a 2-year-old. He’s never left the barn and never been to a farm,” Mott noted. “We take him to Payson Park [in Indiantown, Fla.] in the winter and turn him out down there, but he’s never left us. He’s never had to be away from the track. It becomes a routine in the wintertime. We turn him out, let him out for a few hours, bring him in.”

While Channel Maker may have grown old, his job did not. “He’s one of the happiest horses going to the track. He doesn’t hesitate,” Mott said. “He just goes and trains and he’s got his ears up. He’s happy and dappled from one end to another. If there is something wrong with them, they don’t look like that.

The Sword Dancer will help to determine whether Channel Maker should advance to the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita and extend his record with his seventh start. Given his recent improbable resurgence, nothing seems out of reach.