Empressum, Apollitical Pence meet in Champion of Champions showdown

They have met four times in the last 14 months, with each finishing in front of the other twice.

The older Quarter Horses Apollitical Pence and Empressum will meet for the fifth time in the $750,000 Champion of Champions at 440 yards at Los Alamitos on Saturday evening, and there is more at stake than the richest prize for older Quarter Horses.

The winner will almost certainly be named champion aged gelding and will have an excellent argument for World Champion, or Horse of the Year.

There is little between the two. Apollitical Pence beat Empressum by a nose in the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship at 400 yards in February, but was second to Empressum by three-quarters of a length in the Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Championship at 440 yards on Oct. 7.

Both runners have excelled in December in recent years.

Apollitical Pence won the Champion of Champions in 2020 and 2021, and will join the legendary gelding Refrigerator (1992-1994) as the only three-time winner if successful on Saturday. Empressum won the 2022 Champion of Champions, with Apollitical Pence third.

Empressum was the World Champion and champion aged gelding last year.

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Empressum and Danjer, second in the 2022 Champion of Champions, are the only horses to outfinish Apollitical Pence in 12 starts over the last 25 months. Owned by Matt and Bendi Dunn and trained by Monty Arrossa, Apollitical Pence has won 20 of 39 starts.

Empressum, who races for Steve Holt and Jeff Jacobs and trainer Heath Taylor, has won 22 of 30 starts.

A 5-year-old gelding, Empressum drew post 2 in a field of 10 in the Champion of Champions. Empressum started from the inside post in a field of six in the Los Alamitos Championship.

Apollitical Pence starts from post 9. He won the 2022 Los Alamitos Championship from the outside in a field of seven.

The Champion of Champions field consists of runners who earned berths by winning major stakes through the year, or by qualifying in a recent time trial.

Half of Saturday’s field – Hooked N Gone, Scoops Dynasty, Flash Bak, Take a Swig of This, and Shott Gun – ran in the single Z. Wayne Griffin Directors’ Trial at 400 yards on Nov. 12.

All but Scoops Dynasty needed that performance to secure a spot in the Champion of Champions. Scoops Dynasty, trained by Arrossa, gained a berth with a half-length win over Empressum in the Go Man Go Handicap at 400 yards on Aug. 27.

The rest of Saturday’s field incudes A Tres of Eagle, Jeriko, and Whiskey Creek, who have won major stakes since early September at Los Alamitos, Lone Star Park, and Ruidoso Downs.

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