Two-time Champion of Champions(G1) winner Apollitical Pence has been retired from racing.

© William Zuazo

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–FEBRUARY 11, 2024–Dunn Ranch’s Apollitical Pence, one of only five horses to win multiple Champion of Champions running, has been retired said trainer Monty Arrossa.

Bred by Dunn Ranch and Womack Cavender Farms, Apollitical Pence finished his career with 20 wins from 41 starts and earnings of $1,867,319. He won the 2020 and 2021 runnings of the Champion of Champions and competed in the prestigious race in 2022 and 2023.

The 8-year-old gelding by leading sire Apollitical Jess won a total of 10 stakes races and was a multiple stakes winner at Los Alamitos, Remington Park, and Ruidoso Downs. In addition to his Champion of Champions victories, he also won the 2023 Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship and the 2022 Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship.

"He’s a true blessing," Arrossa said. "He is here at Los Alamitos, but he is retired."

Apollitical Pence still had tremendous speed out of the gate in his final two starts, but in both of those outings (the 2023 Champion of Champions and a trial to this year’s Winter Championship) he tried to switch leads during the middle of the race which made him lose his momentum according to Arrossa. He finished out of the money in both of those races.

"He’s done so much in his career, and he doesn’t owe us anything," Arrossa said.

Out of the mare Send City, Apollitical Pence also won the 2019 Heritage Place Derby at Remington Park and ran in the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity, Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity and Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity during his freshman season in 2018. As a sophomore, he was also third in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and second in the Grade 3 El Primero Del Ano Derby.

All in all, the Oklahoma-bred ran in 29 stakes races, 15 of them at the Grade 1 stakes level.

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