Channel Cat sold to Turkish syndicate for 2027 stud duty

Channel Cat has been sold to a syndicate owned by Atahan Zilcioglu and will stand in Turkey beginning in 2027, giving the Calumet Farm homebred a new role overseas after his North American breeding start. The deal was brokered by Murat Sancal and confirmed by Calumet, while the farm’s current stallion listing still places the 11-year-old son of English Channel in Kentucky for 2026 at a fee of $7,500 live foal, stands and nurses.

The timing matters. Channel Cat is a freshman sire, and his first 2-year-olds are on the track in 2026, so the move is a future relocation rather than an immediate one. That gives breeders one more season to evaluate the market on his early runners before he heads abroad, where his profile fits a demand for proven, commercially attractive turf blood.

On the racecourse, Channel Cat offered exactly the kind of résumé overseas buyers target. Trained by Todd Pletcher, he won the 2021 Man o' War Stakes, Grade 1, at Belmont Park by a nose over Gufo after forcing the pace in the 1 3/8-mile turf test. That was his first victory at the top level, and it came after he had already placed in Grade 1 company in the Sword Dancer Stakes and the United Nations Stakes in 2019. He finished with a record of 6 wins, 4 seconds and 5 thirds from 32 starts, and earnings of $1,481,022.

His pedigree strengthens the appeal. Channel Cat is by English Channel out of Carnival Kitten, by Kitten’s Joy, a turf-oriented cross that lines up neatly with what Turkish breeders have sought in recent years. The Jockey Club of Turkey operates stud farms and covering stations in multiple regions, including İzmit, to support Thoroughbred breeding, and its infrastructure is designed to provide stallions of strong origin and healthy foals.

Turkey’s appetite for American Grade 1 stallions has already been visible in recent seasons, with Tourist sent to stand at İzmit Stallion Complex in 2025 and Connect also sold for the 2027 season. That spending has been part of a roster rebuild after the loss of Mendip, and Channel Cat now joins the list of proven U.S. performers being exported to help shape the next generation there. For the American market, it is another reminder that a stallion can have a second career far from Kentucky when his race record, pedigree and commercial value line up at the right moment.