Two-time Champion of Champions winner Empressum is aiming for a fourth consecutive trip to the Champion of Champions.

© Amber Mendez

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–NOVEMBER 13, 2025–With at least two berths on the line for the Grade 1 Champion of Champions, 15 outstanding Quarter Horses will race in the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials to earn one of the final presumptive berths to the prestigious 440-yard Champion of Champions.

A pair of $20,000 Z. Wayne Directors Trials will be contested on Sunday night at Los Alamitos, with the horses with the two fastest times in the 400-yard trials advancing to the Champion of Champions. If an additional spot opens, then the horse with the third fastest time will get the nod.

The list of hopefuls is headed by Steve Holt and Jeff Jones’ Empressum, who will race in the second of the two trials, which have been carded as races seven and eight on Sunday. The 2022 AQHA World Champion, Empressum, is a two-time Champion of Champions winner now aiming for a fourth consecutive trip to the Champion of Champions.

If Empressum can earn a spot in the final, he’ll have a chance to join Refrigerator as the only three-time winners of the Champion of Champions. Empressum won the 2022 running before returning to win last year by ½ length.

The 7-year-old gelding could also join a very exclusive club in Quarter Horse racing as he’s less than $2,000 shy of going over the $2.5 million mark in career earnings. KJ Desparado ($3,367,447) and Ochoa ($2,781,365) are the only two in that exclusive club.

Sired by Apollitical Jess, Empressum will enter Sunday with $2,498,248 in career earnings. With a top three finish in his Z. Wayne Directors Trial, Empressum would join KJ Desparado and Ochoa in the $2.5 million club.

Of course, the big prize of the night is a spot in the Champion of Champions. Empressum, who is racing in Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials for the first time in his career, arrives with 25 wins from 38 starts, including nine stakes wins at Los Alamitos.

Trained by Elena Andrade, Empressum has only started twice this year, finishing second in both outings. He was second to Scoops Dynasty in the Grade 1 Go Man Go Handicap and second to Stanley Cartel in the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship. Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo will ride Empressum from post number one in the second trial.

Scoops Dynasty and Stanley Cartel both await the qualifiers in the Champion of Champions, with the others already in the field being Unrelentless, Hooked N Gone, Hott Temptation, RC Corona King, FDD Dreams, and Norco.

Bobby Cox’s Jeriko awaits Empressum in the second trial, as the multiple Grade 1 winner also hopes for a return trip to the Champions of Champions. Fourth in each of the past two runnings of the Champion of Champions, Jeriko earned his berth last year after outdueling Empressum in the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship and qualified for the 2023 running after winning the Los Alamitos Super Derby. Chris O’Dell will saddle Jeriko, who’ll start from post two with Jesus Rios Ayala in the irons.

Link Newcomb’s Cattail Cove, who at eight is the oldest horse in the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials, will join Empressum and Jeriko in the second trial. The son of Favorite Cartel has proved many times that age is just a number for him, as 2025 has been one of his best racing years. He’s won four of seven starts this season for earnings of $96,675.

A three-time stakes winner this year, Cattail Cove picked up his first Grade 1 victory when winning this year’s Restricted Grade 1 Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship Handicap. Like Jeriko and Shakers No Secret, Cattail Cove will be looking to return to the Champion of Champions after being a part of the 2022 running.

This trial will also include  Kevins Wise Corona, Rlh Fouronthefloor, Vegas Trick and Yippee Ki Yey.

Ethan and Abel Lopez, and Manny Dutchover’s Shakers No Secret, and Ed Allred’s London Toby competed in the Champion of Champions last year and are now hoping for a second straight trip to the race, this time via a big effort in the opening Z Wayne Directors Trial. Shakers No Secret picked up his berth last year by winning the AQHA Challenge Championship.

He went on to run third to Empressum in the Champion of Champions. Meanwhile, London Toby earned his spot via the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship, but in the final he had a very troubled start and never challenged. This will be making his first start since running second to Stanley Cartel in the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity in July. 

AQHA champion trainer Marc Jungers trains Shakers No Secret, while Scott Willoughby will saddle London Toby. Willoughby is hoping London Toby can be his second  Champion of Champions qualifier after saddling Norco to a 57-1 upset win in the Los Alamitos Super Derby to get into the big dance.

A horse to watch in the opening trial is Karla and Oscar Diaz’s OJD Jess A Bug, who took his record to a perfect 12 for 12 after winning his Los Alamitos debut in the Azure Three Handicap at 220 yards on October 18. OJD Jess A Bug arrived at the Orange County oval after dominating the Intermountain region with victories at Weber Downs in Utah, Pocatello Downs in Idaho and Energy Downs 307 and Sweetwater Downs in Wyoming. Jesus Nunez trains the 3-year-old by One Sweet Jess. 

Other top sophomores in the opening heat include Sherry Gilmore’s Heavens Uncle and La Feliz Montana Ranch LLC’s Ariatt. Heavens Uncle won the Grade 2 Bob Moore Memorial Stakes at Remington Park and was the winner of the Restricted Grade 1 Remington Park Futurity last year.  He was fifth to OJD Jess A Bug in the Azure Three in his Los Alamitos debut. Paul Jones trains Heavens Uncle.

Trained by Xavier Rodriguez, Ariatt ran second to stablemate FDD Dreams in the All American Derby and also raced in the All American Futurity last year. A winner of $378,327 in his career, Ariatt will be making his Los Alamitos debut on Sunday night. The first Z. Wayne Directors will also feature Apolitical Chilitas, Edbert Verde and Cuz Lightyear.

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