Favorite Jesshawk wins Winter Championship, earns spot in Champion of Champions
Favorite Jesshawk won his debut against older horses in Sunday’s $135,500 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship, securing a provisional berth to the $700,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos in December.
The Champion of Champions is Quarter Horse racing’s leading stakes for older horses.
A 4-year-old colt, Favorite Jesshawk was the second choice in a field of nine in the Winter Championship. He won the 400-yard race by a nose over 6-5 favorite Lethal Cowboy 123. Ridden for the first time by Martin Arriaga, Favorite Jesshawk ($8.40) ran 400 yards in 19.71 seconds, recording his seventh win in 19 starts.
Lethal Cowboy 123, the champion 2-year-old gelding and overall champion 2-year-old of 2024, finished a neck in front of 9-2 Kevins Wise Corona, a 5-year-old who was fourth in the 2025 Winter Championship.
The win was worth $56,910. Favorite Jesshawk has earned $471,439.
Favorite Jesshawk won the $197,300 Golden State Derby last September for owner and breeder Enrique Gonzalez and trainer Jesus Nunez. The win on Sunday ended a four-race losing streak that included a second by a half-length in the $158,600 Southern California Derby in December.
The Winter Championship was the first major race for older horses of the year at Los Alamitos. The race lacked the first four runners from the Champion of Champions in December.
Race winner Fdd Dreams finished third in the $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park on Feb. 7 and is not expected to race again until later this year. Jeriko, who was second, died of complications from an infection last month.
Unrelentless, who ran third, is now a stallion in Oklahoma. Norco, who finished fourth, has been turned out for 90 days, trainer Scott Willoughby said last week.
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