diff --git a/.github/scripts/validate_binaries.sh b/.github/scripts/validate_binaries.sh
index 3233b6d46..cf0f966ee 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/validate_binaries.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/validate_binaries.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 
 if [[ ${MATRIX_PACKAGE_TYPE} = "conda" ]]; then
-    conda install -y torchtext -c ${PYTORCH_CONDA_CHANNEL}
+    #special case for Python 3.11
+    if [[ ${MATRIX_PYTHON_VERSION} == '3.11' ]]; then
+        conda install -y torchtext -c malfet -c ${PYTORCH_CONDA_CHANNEL}
+    else
+        conda install -y torchtext -c ${PYTORCH_CONDA_CHANNEL}
+    fi
 else
     pip install ${PYTORCH_PIP_PREFIX} torchtext --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_PIP_DOWNLOAD_URL}
 fi
diff --git a/test/smoke_tests/smoke_tests.py b/test/smoke_tests/smoke_tests.py
index 14c963250..2fbaeec5e 100644
--- a/test/smoke_tests/smoke_tests.py
+++ b/test/smoke_tests/smoke_tests.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """Run smoke tests"""
 
+import os
 import re
 
 import torchdata
@@ -7,6 +8,7 @@
 import torchtext.version  # noqa: F401
 
 NIGHTLY_ALLOWED_DELTA = 3
+channel = os.getenv("MATRIX_CHANNEL")
 
 
 def validateTorchdataVersion():
@@ -19,5 +21,8 @@ def validateTorchdataVersion():
         raise RuntimeError(f"torchdata binary {torchdata.__version__} is more than {NIGHTLY_ALLOWED_DELTA} days old!")
 
 
-validateTorchdataVersion()
+if channel == "nightly":
+    validateTorchdataVersion()
+
 print("torchtext version is ", torchtext.__version__)
+print("torchdata version is ", torchdata.__version__)