Champion of Champions winner Apollitical Pence, Chocolatito meet in Go Man Go
The last time Apollitical Pence raced at Los Alamitos he scored a 12-1 upset in the $600,000 Champion of Champions last December. Chocolatito was fourth by a half-length in that race, losing any chance for a year-end Quarter Horse championship due to the defeat.
Apollitical Pence and Chocolatito are two leading contenders for the Champion of Champions this Dec. 11. A win on Sunday in the $100,000 Go Man Go Handicap at 400 yards at Los Alamitos would almost certainly assure one of the geldings of a berth in the Champion of Champions.
If a horse wins more than one race through the season with an automatic berth to the Champion of Champions, or if a berth is declined, the position reverts to the winner of the Go Man Go Handicap.
Apollitical Pence, trained by Monty Arrossa, has not raced since May 29 when he was second by a neck in the 440-yard Remington Park Championship, the leading race of the year for older horses in the Midwest. Apollitical Pence, owned by Matt Dunn, on Sunday will be ridden by Jesus Ayala, who won aboard the 5-year-old earlier in his career.
Chocolatito was third in his lone start this summer, the Spencer Childers Championship at 400 yards at Los Alamitos on July 31. Chocolatito finished behind Circle City and Nomadic. All three are owned by Los Alamitos track owner Ed Allred and trained by Scott Willoughby.
Chocolatito was fourth as the 2-1 favorite in the 2020 Go Man Go Handicap, but rebounded to win the Los Alamitos Championship at 440 yards last October, his most recent win. A winner of 9 of 21 starts, Chocolatito has lost his last three races.
“If Chocolatito breaks, he’s extremely tough,” Willoughby said on Friday morning.
Nomadic, who starts from the rail in the 10-runner Go Man Go Handicap, was second by three-quarters of a length to his full-brother Circle City in the Childers in his first start since a win in the Southern California Derby last December.
“They were both coming off layoffs and ran good races,” Willoughby said of Chocolatito and Nomadic.
Nomadic has raced well from an inside post, leaving the 4-year-old gelding as another contender in the Go Man Go.
“Nomadic has run some great races from the one hole,” Willoughby said.
Circle City is being held out of the Go Man Go, having already secured a berth in the Champion of Champions for winning the Vessels Maturity in July.
“He’s run some hard races and it doesn’t hurt to give him some time off,” Willoughby said.
Typical of its status, the Go Man Go Handicap is a race with depth.
The multiple stakes winner John Carter Cash will start for the first time for Arrossa in his 2021 debut.
Eagles Fly Higher, a two-time stakes winner at Remington Park earlier this year, can rebound from a troubled seventh in the Vessels Maturity.
Redneck Ryan and Cattail Cove were third and fifth in the Vessels Maturity and have the outside two posts in this field.