2026 Champion Of Champions Field Shaping Up To Be Another Classic

Just as it has done each year since its inaugural running in 1972, the historic Grade 1 Champion of Champions will bring together one of the best Quarter Horse racing lineups of the year. The field for the 2026 edition will be headed by KJ Desparado, the breed’s richest runner with earnings of $3,617,850; the sensational GF Shes Sinful, a 3-year-old filly who has twice defeated male counterparts this year; and a pair of red-hot Grade 1 winners at Los Alamitos in the form of Norco and Political Twist. A total of 10 superstars will grace the starting gate at the Cypress track on Saturday, December 12, in a race that promises to have many Quarter Horse racing experts voicing that this is indeed the race of the year.

Under the guidance of trainer Wesley Giles, KJ Desparado has had another strong campaign. The 7-year-old gelding by Apollitical Jess out of Tres Veses has hit the board in five of his seven starts while earning $250,403. His lone victory of 2026 came less than a month ago when he broke sharply from post seven on his way to defeating a quality field in the Grade 1 AQHA Racing Challenge Championship as the 6-5 favorite. Bred in Arizona by L&I Land & Cattle and owned by John and Kathy Lee and Ruben Mares, KJ Desparado’s effort earned him a presumptive berth to the Champion of Champions. This will be the first time that the eight-time Grade 1 winner competes at Los Alamitos.

KJ Desparado’s racing career also includes victories in the Grade 1 All American Futurity, Texas Classic Futurity, Ruidoso Derby, Texas Classic Derby, All American Gold Cup, and twice in the Refrigerator Championship. In addition to his victory in the AQHA Racing Challenge Championship, his other top efforts this year include a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Invitational Championship Stakes and a third in the All American Gold Cup. KJ Desparado is under the care of Jason Giles at Los Alamitos.

Owned by All In Partners, the Oklahoma-bred GF Shes Sinful was purchased for $50,000 at the 2024 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale—and what a buy she has proven to be. Trained by Wesley Giles, the filly by Dulce Sin Tacha is out of Kevin Birrell’s broodmare BF Fooserageous, and her career record now features seven wins from 11 starts and $749,038 in earnings.

A finalist in the 2025 Texas Classic Futurity, GF Shes Sinful has now catapulted into one of the nation’s leading performers this season. She’s currently third in total earnings for 2026 with $708,275, trailing only the unbeaten All American Futurity winner Cowboys Flying ($2,068,793) and Los Alamitos Super Derby winner Political Twist ($802,348). Her record includes a daylight victory in the Grade 1 Ruidoso Derby and, most recently, an impressive victory against older foes in the Grade 1 Albuquerque Fall Championship. She was also third in the Grade 1 All American Derby and second in the Grade 1 Rainbow Oaks. Trained by Jason Giles at Los Alamitos, GF Shes Sinful posted an official work on the morning of November 10 when traveling 220 yards in :12.2 in a turn-and-work.

La Feliz Montana Ranch LLC and Ray Willis’ Political Twist clinched his presumptive berth to the Champion of Champions after winning the Super Derby by a ½ length on November 8. The victory was his third in four career starts at Los Alamitos and his 11th in 14 total outings. Political Twist approaches the Champion of Champions with $1,940,778 and a chance for a third Grade 1 win this season after also scoring in the Rainbow Derby at Albuquerque. His other stakes appearance came in the All American Derby, where he ran second just ahead of GF Shes Sinful.

Ed Allred’s Norco will be making his third start of the season in the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials on Sunday night, surely a final tune-up before the Champion of Champions. The 4-year-old Favorite Cartel gelding was dominant in his season debut on September 13 when winning an allowance event by 1 ¾ lengths. He followed it up by winning the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship at 440 yards by a head to earn his presumptive Champion of Champions spot. The Allred-bred was fourth in last year’s Champion of Champions, a race in which he led for about the first 150 yards. He won the Super Derby last year.

Racing for Caliche Walls Venture LLC, Alan Isbell, Lance Bland, and Jimmy Barton, Lethal Cowboy 123 won the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity here on June 28 to earn his spot alongside this outstanding group. The 4-year-old gelding by Flying Cowboy 123 is no stranger to major races at Los Alamitos, as he also won the 2024 Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity. Trained by Marc Jungers, the Veronica Gail Kawananakoa-bred runner has recorded seven of his 11 career wins at the Orange County oval.

EG High Desert Farms’ Favorite Jesshawk will also be in action in Sunday’s Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials as he sharpens up his speed and endurance in preparation for the Champion of Champions. The December 12 headliner will be his final start, as the son of A Mere Felix will retire and begin his stallion career at the Louisiana Center for Equine Reproduction in Opelousas, Louisiana, in 2027. Favorite Jesshawk is a multiple Grade 1 winner with earnings of nearly $500,000. He earned his presumptive berth by taking the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship earlier this year.

His other stakes wins include the Restricted Grade 1 Governor's Cup Futurity, the Grade 2 Golden State Derby, and the Los Alamitos Two Million Juvenile Stakes. He was second to Norco in the Robert Boniface on October 10, second in the 2025 Grade 2 Southern California Derby, and third in the 2024 Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity. Francisco Rodriguez trains the 4-year-old stallion.

Racing for the partnership of Paul Blanchard, Guadalupe Bujanda, Jose Flores, and Santos Montemayor, Mask Mandate earned his presumptive berth with his victory in the Grade 1 Go Man Go Handicap. His only other start since that outing was a fourth-place finish in the Robert Boniface. Those are his only two starts this season. He won the 2024 Governor’s Cup Derby to give his trainer, Jose Flores, his 100th stakes win at Los Alamitos.

Keith Nellesen’s Beuteeful has delivered three major stakes wins at the Orange County oval during her racing career. She won the 2025 Grade 2 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity and the 2026 Grade 1 Los Alamitos Oaks. After running third in the Rainbow Oaks, she returned to defeat older mares in the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial, which earned her a presumptive spot in the Champion of Champions. She finished ninth in the Super Derby last Sunday night.

The final berths will be decided in Sunday’s running of the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial. For more information, please contact larace@losalamitos.com.

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