Empressum tops strong field in Los Alamitos Championship

Empressum has been named a Quarter Horse champion in three of the last five years and may well be on his way to another trophy this year, pending the result of a race such as Saturday’s $100,000 Los Alamitos Championship.

An 8-year-old gelding, Empressum has not raced since a nose win in the $256,160 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Championship on May 30, the leading race for older Quarter Horses in the Midwest.

The Los Alamitos Championship, run at 440 yards, is one of the top races of the year for older horses in California, leading to the $700,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 12 at Los Alamitos. The Champion of Champions plays a leading role in determining year-end championships.

Empressum, who races for Jeff Jones and Steve Holt, has won 26 of 42 starts and earned $2,701,248 in a career that began in spring 2020. He ranks third on the all-time earnings list for Quarter Horses behind the active gelding KJ Desparado with $3,484,277 and the retired Ochoa with $2,781,365.

Saturday’s race is Empressum’s fifth consecutive appearance in the Los Alamitos Championship. He won the race in 2023 and was second in 2022, 2024, and 2025.

Empressum was the overall champion 3-year-old and 3-year-old gelding of 2021; World Champion, champion aged gelding, and overall aged champion in 2022; and champion aged gelding in 2024.

On Saturday, Empressum will be favored in a strong field of 10 that includes Norco, who won the Los Alamitos Super Derby last November and was fourth in the Champion of Champions; and Lethal Cowboy 123, who won the Vessels Maturity in July and was second in the Go Man Go Handicap on Aug. 23. Lethal Cowboy was beaten in the Go Man Go Handicap by Mask Mandate, another starter on Saturday.

The winner will receive a berth to the Champion of Champions. Three runners in the field have berths – Empressum (Remington Park Championship), Lethal Cowboy 123 (Vessels Maturity), and Favorite Jesshawk (Los Alamitos Winter Championship).

The Los Alamitos Championship is Favorite Jesshawk’s first start since the Winter Championship on March 8.