Fdd Dreams looks like World Champion with Champion of Champions victory
CYPRESS, Calif. - Fdd Dreams, already recognized as the nation’s leading 3-year-old Quarter Horse, made a compelling case for the title of 2025 World Champion with a nose win in Saturday’s $700,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos.
Fdd Dreams started against older horses for the first time in the Champion of Champions, the nation’s leading race for 3-year-olds and older Quarter Horses.
Ridden by Luis Martinez, Fdd Dreams ($13.80) overcame a slight bump at the start of the 440-yard race and edged 9-5 favorite Jeriko in a head-bobbing finish. Jeriko, who had a slightly tardy start, was unlucky to lose, considering he traded leads with Fdd Dreams in the final strides.
Unrelentless (45-1) finished a surprising third, a neck behind Jeriko.
The race was marred by a fatal injury sustained by Stanley Cartel about 50 yards after the finish. Stanley Cartel finished sixth of 10 in the race. He suffered an injury to a foreleg and was euthanized, according to a track official. Stanley Cartel, the winner of two leading races for older horses at Los Alamitos this year, was scheduled to go to stud in Oklahoma in 2026.
Stanley Cartel and Scoops Dynasty, who finished ninth in a field of 10, were transferred to trainer Luke Lindsey from Ramiro Castillo earlier this month after Castillo was told to vacate his stable by track management after five horses in his care died as a result of injuries or illnesses since May.
Fdd Dreams, owned by Los Feliz Montana Ranch and trained by 25-year-old Xavier Rodriguez, was timed in 21.40 seconds. The win was worth $350,000. Fdd Dreams, a gelding by Fdd Dynasty, has won 10 of 17 starts and earned more than $2.15 million.
Earlier this year, Fdd Dreams won the Ruidoso Derby at 400 yards at Ruidoso Downs and the All American Derby at the Downs at Albuquerque.
The win in the Champion of Champions ended a two-race losing streak for Fdd Dreams, who was second by a nose in a division of the Los Alamitos Super Derby time trials on Oct. 19 and sixth after a troubled start in the final of that race on Nov. 9.
Fdd Dreams earned a berth in the Champion of Champions with his win in the All American Derby, and became the first horse since Dashs Dream in 1984 to win both races in the same year. Dashs Dream was the 1984 World Champion.
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