ELMONT, N.Y. - The champ still has some fight left in those 8-year-old legs. Channel Maker, the male turf champion of 2020, turned aside challenges first from Highest Honors and then Soldier Rising to win Friday’s $150,000 Grand Couturier Stakes by a neck at Belmont Park. Soldier Rising was second by a length over Highest Honors. British Royalty and Admission Office completed the order of finish. The Grand Couturier was run Friday after it failed to fill for last Monday. :: Get ready for Saratoga and Del Mar with a Quarterly subscription to DRF Past Performances  Channel Maker was looking to bounce back from a ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Manhattan on June 11. In that race, Channel Maker missed the break and basically trailed throughout. Friday, under Luis Saez, Grand Couturier broke on top, set sensible fractions - he went a mile in 1:41.15 - with Highest Honors within a half-length. Turning for home, Channel Maker and Highest Honors brushed, which energized Channel Maker, according to Saez. Soldier Rising, under Jose Ortiz, came up three wide, stuck a head in front of Channel Maker at the eighth pole, but Channel Maker battled back to get the victory. “He always wanted to stay in front,” said Saez, who added that Ortiz on Soldier Rising “was coming to get us, but he gave me another gear.” “That’s him,” Saez said. Channel Maker, a gelding by English Channel owned by Dean Reeves, Adam Wachtel, Randy Hill and Gary Barber and trained by Bill Mott, covered the 1 1/2 miles in 2:27.54 and returned $4.50 as the favorite. The win was the ninth from 46 starts for Channel Maker, who pushed his career earnings to $3,678,076. All nine wins came in stakes. Channel Maker has won four Grade 1’s including the Sword Dancer in 2020, the year he won the Eclipse Award. “He runs in Grade 1’s, and he’s been all over the world, and he just gets it done,” Reeves said. “He brings his best game every time.” The Grand Couturier could be a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer on Aug. 27 at Saratoga. If he runs there, it would be his fifth consecutive appearance in that race.