AQHA Racing World Champion Empressum will be back in action in the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship on Saturday night.

© Dustin Orona Photography

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–OCTOBER 10, 2024–Steve Holt and Jeff Jones’ multimillionaire Empressum, the AQHA Racing World Champion in 2022, will look to become the first back-to-back winner of the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship since 2017 when he heads a strong field of seven here on Saturday night.

The great Heza Dasha Fire, who won this race in 2016 and 2017, is the last horse to successfully defend his title in this race and is one of only six to have done so in the 69-year history of this 440-yard classic.

Empressum won this race last year by ¾ lengths over the great Apollitical Pence and Bomb Cyclone and no returns still at the top of his game.                                                                                                 

The 6-year-old gelding by Apollitical Jess has won 24 of 34 career starts while earning $2,136,623 in his great career. In his career, he’s won a total of 10 Grade 1 stakes races, seven of them coming at Los Alamitos, while also winning 11 of his 15 starts at the Orange County track.

In 2024, Empressum had already won the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity and the Grade 1 Go Man Go Handicap, but that victory came after Bobby Cox’s Jeriko was disqualified from first and placed second due to interference.

Empressum and Jeriko will face off again on Saturday night and once again figure to be fighting it out for the win. Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo will pilot Empressum for trainer Heath Taylor from post number five.

Over his career, Jeriko has done well at Los Alamitos. His record includes a victory in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and second place finishes in the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity and the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

The 4-year-old gelding by One Famous Eagle is not the fastest out of the gate, but he brings a potent finishing kick to his races and this quarter-mile distance suits his late-running style perfectly. Jose Nicasio, who has piloted Jeriko to many of his top efforts including his win in the Super Derby, gets the call for Taylor from post number six.

The Robert Boniface will offer a purse of $90,000 with the winner earning a presumptive berth to the Grade 1 $600,000 Champion of Champions on December 14.

Edward and Von Zae McNelis’ Scoops Dynasty has long history of success at Los Alamitos and even defeated Empressum in last year’s Go Man Go Handicap. The 5-year-old by FDD Dynasty was part of that Go Man Go race, but he was in the middle of all the bumping and tussling early in that race and was never in contention while running fifth.

The Monty Arrossa-trainee is making only his second start since February but needs to sharper out of post number two to be a major in this race.

From the rail, Regina Laymon’s Hooked N Gone will be looking for a better effort in his second local start of the year. In his first 2024 Los Alamitos outing, he never got rolling while running third in an allowance test against multiple allowance winner Hes Chickless.

Trained by Eddie Willis, Hooked N Gone will look to regain his 2023 local form when he won the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial and then ran third – ahead of both Jeriko and Scoops Dynasty – in the Champion of Champions.

Link Newcomb’s Cattail Cove will make his 49th career start while continuing to perform at a top level. The multiple stakes winner trained by Juan Aleman moved up to second in that troubled Go Man Go, a race in which he avoided all the commotion while racing from the outside post seven. Martin Arriaga will get the return call.

Rick Sumner and Dunn Ranch’s Candy Blood looked sharp in his local debut, winning an allowance event on August 31. His only previous start came at Remington Park when he finished out of the money in the Eastex Stakes.

Candy Blood has also enjoyed past success at Los Alamitos, as he won his Z. Wayne Griffin trial in 2021 before running a solid fourth in the Champion of Champions. Jesus Rios Ayala will ride the 6-year-gelding by Apollitical Blood for Arrossa.

The Brazilian star Edberg Verde, his country’s richest Quarter Horse of all-time, will complete the field from post number seven. Owned by Mauro Eli Zaborowsky and trained by Paul Jones, Edberg Verde was moved up to third in the Go Man Go and he’s also won a pair of allowance races.

He’s shown good gate speed in three of his five starts in the United States and he’ll need to do that again to be a big factor in his first quarter mile race here.  

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For more information, please contact larace@losalamitos.com. You can also follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.