Empressum will be short price in Vessels Maturity trial

Empressum won the Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in December to secure the title of 2022 World Champion Quarter Horse.

The championship campaign began in earnest with a win in the Vessels Maturity last July. An encore will be attempted this year.

On Sunday at Los Alamitos, Empressum will start for the first time since February in the second of two divisions of time trials for the Vessels Maturity, the track’s leading race of the summer for older horses. The 400-yard final will be run on July 2.

The nine-race program includes the $100,000 Abigail Kawananakoa Stakes for fillies and mares at 400 yards.

Unlike futurity trials, which draw scores of horses seeking the 10 fastest qualifying times, there are only 12 runners in two divisions of the Vessels trials. Empressum, a 5-year-old gelding, will be a massive favorite to win for the 19th time in his 26th start.

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Owned by Steve Holt and Jeff Jacobs, Empressum has started twice this year. He won a division of the Brad McKinzie Winter Championship trials in January, but was second by a nose to Apollitical Pence in the final on Feb. 19.

Empressum was given a late winter rest at trainer Heath Taylor’s farm near Delta Downs in Louisiana before he was sent to California earlier this spring.

Empressum will start from post 5 in a field of six in the eighth race on Sunday evening. His main rivals are Up and Atem and Stuck in Probate, who were second and third in the Kaweah Bar Stakes at 350 yards on April 29.

The first division of the trials is led by Scoops Dynasty, who was third in the McKinzie Championship for trainer Monty Arrossa, and Shott Gun, who won the Kaweah Bar for Taylor.

The winner of the Vessels Maturity receives a berth to the Champion of Champions on Dec. 9.

The field for the Kawananakoa, which honors the late owner and breeder, is led by the first three finishers of the Miss Princess Handicap at 350 yards on May 7 – Cir Lady Moon, Sweet Tess and Letty Cartel. Sweet Tess won the Los Alamitos Oaks in March 2022.

The will be the first start in more than five months for the highly-regarded Nymphette, who finished fifth as the 9-10 favorite in the $100,000 Charger Bar Handicap for fillies and mares on Jan. 1 after a troubled start.

The lightly-raced Nymphette was second in the Mildred Vessels Handicap for fillies and mares last September, another of the track’s leading races for older females.

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