Empressum, under jockey Rodrigo Vallejo, surges in the final strides to win his second Grade 1 Champion of Champions on Saturday at Los Alamitos Race Course. © William Zuazo
LOS ALAMITOS, CA–DECEMBER 14, 2024–The emperor of Quarter Horse racing is Empressum after the great multi-millionaire superstar won his second running of the Grade 1 Champion of Champions with a sensational second half of the 440-yard classic on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.
Owned and bred by Steve Holt and Jeff Jones, Empressum trailed earlier leader Pattys Saint by a length during the early part of the Champion of Champions. He was still in fourth place at the midway point of the race, but that's when Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo felt the power of the 6-year-old gelding by Apollitical Jess and out of the mare Crazy Down Corona.
In the next moment, Empressum was now running second only behind the outstanding multiple Grade 1 winner Jess Good Wine with 110 yards to go in the race. A few strides later, it was Empressum now with the lead and an advantage that would take him to the wire, while giving him another chapter in the history of the Champion of Champions.
Trained by Heath Taylor, Empressum crossed the wire a half-length ahead of Guns Up Racing's Jess Good Wine while covering the distance in :21.308. His earnings for the win were $300,000 taking his career bankroll to $2,458,873.
Champion of Champions winning owners Steve Holt and Jeff Jones with the $300,000 winner's check.
© William Zuazo
His win was the 25th in his 36-race career and his stakes victory was his fifth Grade 1 victory at the classic quarter-mile distance. Empressum also became only the sixth horse to win the Champion of Champions more than once and only the second to do so in non-consecutive years.
Betty Jane Burlin's Tailor Fit won the 1999 and 2001 runnings of the Champion of Champions and now Empressum has claimed the shiniest trophy at Los Alamitos in 2022 and 2024 – both while starting from post number 10.
All in all, Empressum has won 12 stakes races in his glittering career while also becoming only the third horse to finish in the top two of the Champion of Champions three times.
In addition to his two victories, the Oklahoma-bred ran second to Flash Bak in last year's running. The others with three top two finishes in the sport's most prestigious race are three-time winner Refrigerator (1992-1994) and Heza Dasha Fire, the winner in 2015 and runner-up in both 2016 and 2017. At every Champion of Champions turn, Empressum's name can now be found.
Two-time Champion of Champions winner Empressum in the Los Alamitos saddling paddock on Saturday. © William Zuazo
"He's not the horse he was at (age) four, but he's not far from it," owner Steve Holt said. "We haven't campaigned him as hard. He's just our dream and our life. We just let him tell us when he's ready. Heath's told me that he wasn't 100 percent and then in the last two weeks he told me, 'We got him there.' Rodrigo said that he was sitting on his best race of the year and of course he ran it tonight. I felt like he would run a big race. I didn't know if we could beat all these young guns that have come to beat us, but the old man stepped up and held his own. We're proud of him as much as we could ever be.
"He's always a closer. That's what got him beat the last time. He just hadn't had that closing kick. We felt if we could be about half a side at the gap that he would finish tonight. You always worry. We knew (Jess Good Wine) was a great horse. The horse ran his guts out and it looked like (Jess Good Wine) had Empressum by a half to a full length and Empressum run him down. That's where he's made his living, right at the close, especially out here."
"I enjoyed every minute of this night," owner Jeff Jones added. "I'm proud of the horse more than anything. He's had a super career and I think he may have a little bit more left in him. I'd like to bring him back. He's just a superstar and when he hits the track he knows what business is. We enjoy him - everybody does."
The winning connections of Empressum in the 2024 Champion of Champions winner's circle. © William Zuazo
Heath Taylor also reached the milestone of $50 million in career earnings with his Quarter Horses to join Paul Jones and Blane Schvaneveldt as the only ones in that exclusive club. In addition to Empressum's earnings, Taylor also saddled Jess Good Wine, who earned $96,000 for his runner-up effort, and Bobby Cox's Jeriko, who finished fourth in this race to earn $42,000.
Taylor has now won three consecutive runnings of the Champion of Champions, having also saddled Flash Bak to victory over Empressum last year. Paul Jones won three consecutive runnings from 2002 to 2004, while Schvaneveldt won a record four straight from 1992 to 1995 – including those three Refrigerator victories.
"We backed up (of Empressum) and changed some things around," Taylor said. "We went back to how we were training him when he was younger. For the last five weeks, every time he went to the track he was touting himself as saying 'I'm not done, I'm not done.' He was much more alert, much more aggressive. He was so strong and serious. I looked at the drone and he was about length back. When a horse gets six-years-old and he's facing young horses in a Grade 1 race you just don't know. He was doing everything, rearing up, saying he was ready to run again. He didn't get away that great. He had a clear wide path from post 10."
Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo enjoyed his second winning ride with Empressum, this victory a memorable one with the way his mount finished so powerfully.
Three-time Champion of Champions winning trainer Mike Robbins joina three-time Champion of Champions winning trainer Heath Taylor after reaching the $50-million-in-earnings mark on Saturday night. © William Zuazo
"Pattys Saint broke so fast and ahead of us," he said. "I had to stay calm. I knew that with the race being 440 I had to be calm. The horse came back to dominate. What a great horse. This horse and I are very much in sync. I've known him for many, many years now. You know what he has when you ask him to finish. It's not that I don't appreciate the other (horses), but if we're even with the others with 100 to 150 yards left in the race, I start thinking that I have it. I know I have too much horse for the distance."
For the second straight year, the winner of the AQHA Challenge Championship posted a great effort in the Champion of Champions. Last year, Tres Of Eagle ran a terrific third after winning the Challenge Championship.
This year, it was Abel and Ethan Lopez and Manny Dutchover's Shakers No Secret who found his best gear shortly after the start and ran outstanding from there to finish in third place. Ridden by Noe Garcia, Jr. for trainer Marc Jungers, the 4-year-old by Five Bar Cartel earned $60,000 for finishing third.
Empressum under, jockey Rodrigo Vallejo, at the finish line in the Grade 1 Champion of Champions on Saturday at Los Alamitos Race Course. © Amber Mendez
Jeriko, who defeated Empressum in the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship on October 12, closed in to millionaire status with his fourth place finish in this race. The son of One Famous Eagleraised his bankroll to $990,272 in his career.
Ridden by Bryan Candanosa, Jess Good Wine, the winner of the Grade 1 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Championship and Grade 1 All American Gold Cup, took his career earnings to $800,413. He is by champion sire Good Reason SA.
"You know Jeriko had a terrible trip. He caused some of it. He didn't get away, got boxed up and finished super," Taylor said. "Jess Good Wine, for this being his first out over the track and first time at 440 here, Candanosa said he ran a superb race. He said he had the race won until about right here (100 yards to go). He said he just couldn't hold off Empressum."
The complete order of finish to the 52nd running of the Champion of Champions is as follows: Empressum, Jess Good Wine, Shakers No Secret, Jeriko, Scoops Dynasty, BP Cartel Policy, Pattys Saint, One Stolin Eagle, Hooked N Gone and London Toby.
For additional information for breeding contract call Royal Vista Ranch farm manager Laura Erickson at (405) 449-7575.
Story and images courtesy of Stallion ESearch.
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