Empressum wins second straight Vessels Maturity
Empressum was the 2022 World Champion Quarter Horse on the strength of a six-race campaign that included three major stakes wins, the first of which was the Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos last July.
On Sunday evening, Empressum was back in the Vessels Maturity and became the fifth horse to win at least two runnings of the prestigious race with a commanding run over 400 yards.
With the win, Empressum earned a berth in the $750,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 9, a race he won last year to clinch his World Champion title.
Ridden by Rodrigo Vallejo, Empressum ($2.80) trailed early leader Scoops Dynasty and ran past that rival in the second half of Sunday’s $150,000 race to win by a neck in 19.30 seconds.
Scoops Dynasty (3-1) finished second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of 6-1 Shott Gun in a field of nine.
Empressum joins Jazzing Hi (1990-1991), Avison (1994-1995), A Ransom (2000-2002), Be a Bono (2005-2006), and Far Niente (2014-2015) as multiple winners of the Vessels Maturity, the track’s leading race of the summer for older horses.
A 5-year-old gelding, Empressum has won 20 of 27 starts and earned $1,717,567. The Vessels Maturity was Empressum’s second win in four starts this year. He won a division of the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship trials in January and was second by a nose to Apollitical Pence in the final in January.
After a brief rest at trainer Heath Taylor’s farm in Louisiana, Empressum won his comeback in a division of the Vessels Maturity trials on June 11.
Empressum races for Jeff Jones and Steve Holt, who bred the gelding in Oklahoma.
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