Powerful Favorite more prepared for this year's Champion of Champions

CYPRESS, Calif. – Powerful Favorite had a disrupted preparation prior to a third-place finish in the 2020 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos.

A bleeding incident that summer forced trainer Chris O’Dell to take a patient approach and space the gelding’s races through the final months of the season. Powerful Favorite was third by a neck in the 440-yard Champion of Champions last December while making his first start since late August.

This year, the situation is vastly different. With the exception of a foot issue during the summer, Powerful Favorite has had an uninterrupted campaign in advance of Saturday’s $600,000 Champion of Champions.

Powerful Favorite has won 4 of 6 starts this year, including the prestigious Los Alamitos Championship at 440 yards in October, a race that was not on the 5-year-old gelding’s 2020 schedule.

“I think we’re ready this time,” O’Dell said Wednesday. “He’s had a few races and a few works. He looks good.”

A winner of 16 of 28 starts, Powerful Favorite has earned $1,065,097 for owner Connie Rosenthal. The experience will be vital for Powerful Favorite to have any chance of winning Quarter Horse racing’s leading event for older horses against a tough field.

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Powerful Favorite, the mount of Eduardo Nicasio, will break from post 7, with two leading rivals toward his inside in Candy Blood in post 4 and Apollitical Pence in post 6.

Apollitical Pence, who won the 2020 Champion of Champions in a 12-1 upset when briefly trained by John Cooper, and Candy Blood, third in the All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs in September after a poor start, won qualifying trial races at 400 yards on Nov. 14 for trainer Monty Arrossa.

Apollitical Pence was second in a qualifying trial for the 2020 Champion of Champions for Cooper, and earned a spot in the final. Earlier this year for Arrossa, Apollitical Pence was second in the Debbie Schauf Remington Park Championship in May and third in the Los Alamitos Championship.

In Saturday’s 10-horse field, Arrossa also starts Really First Down, a troubled sixth in the Los Alamitos Championship and second to Apollitical Pence in a trial in his only races since May.

“I think he can win the race,” Arrossa said. “He’s getting better. We’ve seen some upsets in the Champion of Champions.”

Flash Bak, winner of the $925,650 Los Alamitos Super Derby on Nov. 7, is one of three 3-year-olds in the field, along with Candy Blood and the filly Reason to Fly MV. Flash Bak starts from post 9 between Reason to Fly MV and Really First Down.

The Champion of Champions will be Flash Bak’s first start at 440 yards, but it’s a distance he should handle considering his attractive win in the Super Derby at 400 yards.