Knicks Go isn't the only horse aimed for one final grade 1 race before a scheduled stud career begins next month. So, too, is Channel Cat .
While Knicks Go races in the main event at Gulfstream Park Jan. 29, the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), Channel Cat goes in the secondary feature, the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T). Both races are 1 1/8 miles.
A 7-year-old son of English Channel owned by his breeder Calumet Farm, Channel Cat is a six-time winner and millionaire who captured the May 8 Man o' War Stakes (G1T) last year for trainer Jack Sisterson. He lost his next four starts, though he was a competitive, last-out second in the Red Smith Stakes (G2T) Nov. 20 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Sisterson said he is unconcerned about a distance cutback for Channel Cat, pointing to speed shown from him in recent starts over his 30-race career. Channel Cat has been breezing regularly this winter on turf at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida.
"So we're excited to run him in a couple of weeks," Sisterson said.
Channel Cat will enter stud at Calumet for an advertised fee of $7,500, according to the farm's website. English Channel stood there before his death in November.
Knicks Go, the probable 2021 Horse of the Year, will head to Taylor Made Stallions, also in Central Kentucky, for an advertised fee of $30,000.
