Empressum vs. Apollitical Pence round 5 will happen Saturday night in the Grade 1, $750,000 Champion of Champions on Saturday night at Los Alamitos. 

© William Zuazo

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–DECEMBER 7, 2023–Round number five of Quarter Horse racing’s biggest rivalry of the past 18 months, Empressum vs. Apollitical Pence, will take place under the biggest spotlight in the sport when the multiple Grade 1 winners face off in the 51st running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Champion of Champions on Saturday night at Los Alamitos. 

The 440-yard Champion of Champions is set as the eighth and final race on the Saturday night card with a post time of 9:16 p.m. Post time for the first race on the card is 6 p.m. (PDT).

Empressum and Apollitical Pence have evenly split their first four meeting with Empressum spoiling Apollitical Pence’s quest for a third straight victory in last year’s Champion of Champions before defeating the 7-year-old gelding in the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship in early October.

Apollitical Pence got the best of Empressum in their first meeting when they squared off in last year’s Los Alamitos Invitational Championship and then returning to win their third meeting when winning the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship in February of this year.  

The two stars are now ready for their fifth get together, while headlining the best Quarter Horse fields assembled this year.  

Reigning AQHA World Champion Empressum, owned and bred by Steve Holt and Jess Jones, will also look to strengthen his case for a second consecutive world title with a repeat victory in the Champion of Champions.

Empressum’s 2023 resume already features wins in the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity, Los Alamitos Invitational Championship, and the Bank of America Los Alamitos Challenge Championship. Empressum will also look to become the sixth horse to win multiple Champion of Champions runnings.  To be ridden by Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo, Empressum will start from post two.   

"It’s a very prestigious race and first and foremost, you’re just happy to have (horses) in the gate and have an opportunity to run in a race with this type of history and this type of money," said Heath Taylor, who trains Empressum. "Empressum had the rail in the Invitational and probably ran the second-best race he’s run. To win a race like this to beat the best, you have to overcome some things to be the best."               

After becoming the first back-to-back winner in the Champion of Champions since SLM Big Daddy in 1998-98, Dunn Ranch’s Apollitical Pence will look to become only the second three-time winner of the Champion of Champions. He’ll hope to join the legendary Refrigerator in this most exclusive of clubs. He’ll also be making his fourth consecutive appearance in the Champion of Champions. Armando Cervantes will ride Apollitical Pence for trainer Monty Arrossa.                              

The field from the rail out is as follows: Flash Bak, Empressum, Whiskey Creek, Shott Gun, A Tres Of Eagle, Take A Swing Of This, Jeriko, Scoops Dynasty, Apollitical Pence, and Hooked N Gone.   

Bobby Cox will be represented by two Grade 1 winning standouts in the Champion of Champions in Jeriko and Shott Gun. For Cox, who is one of Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading owners and breeders, Jeriko and Shott Gun are his second and third starters ever in the Champion of Champions. This is the first time that Cox will have horses in this great race since 1992.

All American Derby winner Whiskey Creek will look to become the first horse since See Me Do It in 1989 to win the All American and the Champion of Champions in the same year. The last All American Derby winner to win the Champion of Champions is Dash For Speed, who won the All American in 1988 and the Champion of Champions in 1990.

Ed and Von Zae McNelis’ Scoops Dynasty has been iron tough this entire year. He’s knocked heads with Empressum and Apollitical Pence in stakes race after stakes race. He got the best of Empressum in the Go Man Go Handicap and will now look for his 6th stakes win at Los Alamitos.

Valeriano Racing’s Flash Bak finished second to Apollitical Pence in the 2021 Champion of Champions and will now look to get to highest step on the podium two years later. Only one horse in Champion of Champions history, Sgt Pepper Feature, ran second in this race before eventually winning the Champion of Champions.

Take A Swig Of This, winner of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby, Tres of Eagle, who arrives via Lone Star after winning the Bank of America Challenge Championship, and Hooked N Gone, third in the All American and winner of the Z. Wayne Griffin, will complete the field.

The Champion of Champions will be held on Saturday, December 9. The next night on Sunday, December 10, Los Alamitos will host California’s richest race, the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

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The Champion of Champions was first contested at Los Alamitos in 1972 when Mr Jet Moore edged champions Kaweah Bar and Charger Bar. Since then, 29 of its winners have been crowned World Champion by the AQHA, including Empressum. He Looks Hot, Heza Dasha Fire. Easy Date, Dash For Cash, Refrigerator, SLM Big Daddy, Tailor Fit and Blues Girl Too are among the World Champions that have won the sport's most prestigious race for older horses.

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For more info' please contact larace@losalamitos.com. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.