Regardless of who is listed as trainer, Empressum has been a standout in Quarter Horse racing for the last five years. The 2021 champion 3-year-old and 2022 World Champion, Empressum was named champion aged horse for the second time last year. In 2024, Empressum recorded his second career win in the Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos, the sport’s leading race for 3-year-olds and older horses. Empressum can earn a berth to the $700,000 Champion of Champions with a win in a tough running of the $100,000 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Championship on Saturday. Both the Champion of Champions, on Dec. 13, and Los Alamitos Championship are run at 440 yards. Empressum, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Steve Holt and Jeff Jones, was second to Jeriko in the 2024 Los Alamitos Championship before winning the Champion of Champions. At the time, Empressum was trained by Heath Taylor, who was summarily suspended by New Mexico racing officials in February after five of his horses tested positive for a banned medication in major stakes on the All American Futurity program at The Downs at Albuquerque in September 2024. Empressum has since been transferred to Elena Andrade, and has had one start, finishing second by a nose to Scoops Dynasty in the Go Man Go Handicap at 400 yards on Aug. 24. The Go Man Go Handicap was a rare loss for Empressum, who has won 25 of 37 starts and earned $2,474,748. ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save big. While Scoops Dynasty is not in the Los Alamitos Championship, the field of 10 includes top-class runners such as Jeriko, Stanley Cartel, and Unrelentless. Jeriko, trained by Chris O’Dell, returned from a seven-month layoff to win an allowance race at 400 yards at 1-5 on Sept. 14. Jeriko was trained by Taylor until early February. After winning the 2024 Los Alamitos Championship by an eye-catching 1 3/4 lengths, Jeriko finished fourth in the Champion of Champions as the 9-5 favorite after a troubled start. Unrelentless earned a berth to the upcoming Champion of Champions with a win in the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship in February. Unrelentless has been beaten in his last four starts – three stakes at Remington Park and a seventh in the Go Man Go Handicap from an inside post. Unrelentless starts from post 7 in the Los Alamitos Championship. Stanley Cartel will be well-backed from an outside post in his first start since a win in the Vessels Maturity, the leading summertime race for older horses at Los Alamitos. With that win at 400 yards on July 6, Stanley Cartel gained a berth to the Champion of Champions. Stanley Cartel is trained by Ramiro Castillo, who won six races from 18 starters on a 14-race program at Los Alamitos last Sunday, all trials for the $1.17 million Golden State Million on Oct. 26. One of Castillo’s winners, Warm Springs, who qualified for the final, died of a non-musculoskeletal injury after the race, according to the California Horse Racing Board’s website. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.