Sensational Field Of 10 Set For Grade 1 Los Alamitos Championship

Steve Holt and Jeff Jones’ homebred superstar Empressum, the 2022 AQHA World Champion and two-time winner of the Grade 1 Champion of Champions, will make his 2026 Los Alamitos debut when he leads a stellar lineup in the Grade 1, $100,000 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship at the classic 440-yard distance on Saturday night.

Empressum, who also won the Los Alamitos Championship in 2023, will be joined by a cast that includes 2026 Grade 1 stakes winners Favorite Jesshawk, Lethal Cowboy 123, Mask Mandate, and Up For Everything. The star-studded field will also feature Norco, winner of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby last year and, along with Empressum, the only other horse in the field who ran in last year’s Champion of Champions.

Mayor Humdinger and Defending Champ, both major stakes winners at Los Alamitos, along with razor-sharp standouts KJ Born To Be Wild and Lethal Lobo, complete the 10-horse lineup. The winner of the Los Alamitos Championship will earn a presumptive berth to the Grade 1 Champion of Champions, to be held at Los Alamitos on Saturday, December 12.

To be ridden by Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo and trained by Kristen Watanabe, the now 8-year-old Empressum arrives with an incredible record of 26 wins from 42 starts and earnings of $2,701,248. His victories include Champion of Champions titles in 2022 and 2024 and, most recently, this year’s running of the Grade 1 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Invitational Championship.

He has won 14 other stakes races during his outstanding career, including three consecutive Vessels Maturity wins from 2022 to 2024 and Go Man Go Handicap wins in 2022 and 2024. As a 3-year-old in 2021, he also won the Texas Classic Derby, Rainbow Derby, and Ruidoso Derby—all Grade 1 contests.

Sired by Apollitical Jess and out of the First Down Dash mare Crazy Down Corona, Empressum’s most recent Grade 1 trophy came in one of the closest finishes of his career, when he prevailed by a nose in the $258,000 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Invitational Championship at 440 yards on May 30.

The Oklahoma-bred gelding rallied from off the pace to get up in the final strides, defeating multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire KJ Desparado by a nose in a blanket finish that saw the top four runners separated by only a head. The victory earned Empressum a presumptive berth to the 2026 Champion of Champions—a race he has competed in each of the past four years, dating back to his 2022 victory.

Caliche Walls Venture, LLC, Alan Isbell, Lance Bland, and Jimmy Barton’s Lethal Cowboy 123, winner of this year's Vessels Maturity and an AQHA champion as well, faced Empressum in the Debbie Schauf at Remington Park and now hopes to outfinish the great 8-year-old in this quarter-mile contest.

The 4-year-old gelding by Flying Cowboy 123 has competed exclusively in Grade 1 stakes events this season, with his Vessels victory earning him a presumptive berth to the Champion of Champions for the first time. The Marc Jungers-trained millionaire was also second to Favorite Jesshawk in the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship and second to Mask Mandate in the Go Man Go. He also finished second in the Leo Stakes at Remington Park before finishing out of the money in the Debbie Schauf.

To be ridden by Edwin Escobedo, the Veronica Gail Kawananakoa-bred Lethal Cowboy 123 has won seven of 10 starts at Los Alamitos. Across all tracks, he has won 11 of 19 starts with earnings of $1,547,872. As a 2-year-old, he won both the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity locally. Following Lethal Cowboy 123’s 3/4-length win in the Vessels Maturity, Jungers elaborated on his trainee’s local success:

“He’s a Cal-bred. He was born here. We bought him here at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. The climate suits him well. He eats well, he does well here, and the guys from the team that take care of him are just impeccable. They take care of him well and treat him like a king, and he shows off for them out here when we ask him to.”

Mask Mandate and Favorite Jesshawk will both look to score their second Grade 1 wins of the season. Making his first start of the season on August 23, Paul Blanchard, Guadalupe Bujanda, Jose Antonio Flores, and Santos Montemayor’s Mask Mandate won the Go Man Go at 18-1 odds to earn the second stakes win of his career.

The winner of the Governor’s Cup Derby in 2024, Mask Mandate is by Favorite Cartel out of the champion aged mare Quirky and has been a top overall performer in stakes events. In addition to his two victories, he finished second in the Grade 2 Golden State Derby two years ago and was third in last year's Independence Day Handicap.

“He's always had the talent,” trainer Jose Flores said. “He's out of a great mare and a great stallion. I remember that he won the Governor's Cup so easy.”

Irving Lara will ride Mask Mandate, who has earned $184,085 across 17 career starts.

Owned and bred by EG High Desert Farms, Favorite Jesshawk returns to action for the first time since winning the Brad McKinzie on March 8. After edging Lethal Cowboy 123 by a nose in the Brad McKinzie, the 4-year-old by A Mere Felix has been building up for this 440-yard race, posting three timed workouts —including a 350-yard gate work in :18.3. The winner of the 2024 Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity and 2025 Golden State Derby, Favorite Jesshawk rarely posts blazing morning works, making his :18.3 drill a very solid clocking.

Martin Arriaga gets the return call on Favorite Jesshawk for his new trainer Francisco Rodriguez, who will be seeking his first Grade 1 stakes victory. Favorite Jesshawk has compiled seven wins from 19 career starts for $471,439.

Ed Allred’s Norco and Up For Everything, both from the barn of trainer Scott Willoughby, will be looking to repeat strong victories in their most recent outings. Up For Everything was a comfortable winner by a neck in the Restricted Grade 1 Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship Handicap, while Norco made his 2026 debut with a very impressive 1 3/4-length victory in the meet’s fastest 350-yard time (:17.35) on September 13. Up For Everything also owns the meet's fastest 300-yard time of :15.26, set on April 12.

As for Norco, the son of Favorite Cartel had an eye-catching effort in last year's Champion of Champions, showing plenty of early speed in the 440-yard event to lead early and hold his own against a field that included eventual 2025 AQHA World Champion FDD Dreams.

Here is a look at the rest of this outstanding field:

• Mayor Humdinger: Winner of the Sgt Pepper Feature and runner-up in the RG2 Governor's Cup Derby in 2026; winner of last year's RG1 Governor's Cup Futurity.
• Defending Champ: Winner of the Governor’s Cup Derby in 2025 and runner-up in the Grade 2 Golden State Derby.
• KJ Born To Be Wild: Runner-up in the Texas Classic Derby and third in the All American Derby in 2025; third in this year's G2 Mr Jet Moore.
• Lethal Lobo: Impressive winner in his Los Alamitos debut on September 13 and third in the 2025 All American Futurity/Derby.

The field from the rail out is as follows; Mask Mandate, Defending Champ, Norco, Lethal Lobo, Up For Everything, Empressum, KJ Born To Be Wild, Favorite Jesshawk, Lethal Cowboy 123, and Mayor Humdinger.

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