Empressum and Jeriko headline the Grade 1 Champion of Champions on Saturday at Los Alamitos.

© Los Alamitos

By Orlando Gutierrez, Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–DECEMBER 11, 2025–The 53rd running of the Grade 1, $700,000 Champion of Champions at 440 yards will bring together the best lineup of Quarter Horses to face off in 2025. Ten Grade 1 winners will be in action with stats that exemplify their outstanding talents.

The field has combined to win 98 races from 220 starts with total earnings of $9,058,824. There are three millionaires in the field in Empressum, FDD Dreams and Jeriko and three others with over $600,000 each in career earnings in Hooked N Gone, Scoops Dynasty and RC Corona King.

With all that said, the biggest storyline is as clear as crystal and it belongs to Steve Holt and Jeff Jones’ Empressum, who will be chasing history as he looks to match the legendary Refrigerator’s record of three wins in the Champion of Champions.

Empressum won the 2022 running against one of the best fields in the history of this race before returning to finish second in 2023. Back again in 2024, Empressum got the victory monster of a finishing kick to become a two-time Champion of Champions winners.

Elena Andrade will saddle Empressum, the sport’s third all-time leading earner after moving past the $2.5 million mark for his career. Empressum will be ridden by Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo, who piloted the son of Apollitical Jess in his first two Champion of Champions wins.

“We’re very excited and it’s been a dream to have this horse,” Andrade said. “He’s a pro and my job right now is to keep him happy. He knows his job.”

Andrade didn’t have much choice in terms of selecting a post position, as Empressum’s connections had the ninth of 10 picks during the traditional Champion of Champions post position selection draw. With posts one and two open, Andrade went with post position one.

“Since I’ve had him, we haven’t had much luck on drawing where he’s comfortable at, so we’ve had some practice on the inside (post positions). Out of the two choices I took the one because we’ve had the best of luck from that spot.”

La Feliz Montana Ranch’s FDD Dreams will look to become the first All American Derby winner to also win the Champion of Champions in his 3-year-old campaign since the great Dashs Dream in 1984. FDD Dreams is currently the nation’s leading earner in the 3 and up ranks for 2025 with $931,034. He’s the overall third leading earner this year. He’ll start from post number six with Luis Martinez up for trainer Xavier Rodriguez.

“He’s been really consistent throughout the year,” Rodriguez said. “He rarely makes mistakes and last time in the Super Derby he made a mistake of stumbling out, slipping out of the gate cost him. There’s nothing we or the horse could have done. I feel he’s a great horse and not matter what he’s still great horse no matter what. I feel he should do really well in this race. He’s got two races under his belt here and with more experience he’ll feel a whole lot better.”

Bobby Cox’s Jeriko hopes the third time is the charm in the Champion of Champions after back-to-back fourth place finishes. Jeriko won the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial in his last start and looked sharp leaving the gate to give his powerful closing ability the agency to win this race. Trainer Chris O’Dell will saddle the 2-1 morning line favorite Jeriko while also hoping to win his first Champion of Champions. Jeriko’s connections had the second selection for post position and O’Dell chose post number nine.

 “We picked as far outside as we could because we wanted to get in the clear, just in case we don’t break hopefully we have somewhere to go,” O’Dell said. “I don’t know if we stumbled into anything or not, but he did break good last time out against Empressum. We were pretty excited about that and hopefully it’s something to build on or at least keep our fingers crossed and build on. He’s teaching us how to get the best out of him. He’s old enough that he knows what to do. (Jesus Rios Ayala) has ridden him three times now so he knows him better. I’ve had him for three races now, so I know him better and my help at the barn knows him better as well. He’s kind of a high-spirited horse and not easy to train. That’s why he hasn’t made $2 million dollars, but he’s got the talent to do that.”

Trainer Luke Lindsey welcomed a pair of Grade 1 winners to his barn over the weekend in the form of Stanley Cartel and Scoops Dynasty. Both runners have won multiple Grade 1 races this year with Weetona Stanley and Dunn Ranch’s Stanley Cartel winning the Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship and Vessels Maturity, while Ed and Von Zae McNelis’ Scoops Dynasty has won the Go Man Go Handicap and AQHA Challenge Championship.

Regina Laymon’s Hooked N Gone, third in the 2023 All American Derby and the winner of the Debbie Schauf Remington Park Championship, is back for his third Champion of Champions field. He earned an invite with his Debbie Schauf win after qualifying for the last two Champion of Champions via the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial.

Ed Allred has won the Champion of Champions twice before, first in 1973 with Charger Bar and then in 2019 with He Looks Hot. Norco, who posted a shocking 57-1 victory in the Los Alamitos Super Derby, will look to give Allred a third victory in this race. In a fortuitous instance, Norco won the random draw for selection order, as his selection got the number one pick of post position. Trainer Scott Willoughby took the outside post number 10.

“We always thought this horse could run quite a bit as a 2-year-old,” Willoughby said. “His talent was one of the best here. He had some problems, but we backed off him. The trials set him up well for the Super Derby and he ran really well in the final. Hopefully, being on the outside, he’ll stay out of trouble. He’s been doing great, bucking and playing and feeling good.”

Reliance Ranches’ Hott Temptation beat aged mares in the Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap and will now look to become the first 3-year-old filly to win the Champion of Champions since Blues Girl Too in 2007. Reliance Ranches also owns Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship winner Unrelentless, who was the first horse to qualify to this year’s Champion of Champions.

The field will be completed by Jose Rojas’ RC Corona King, winner of the Albuquerque Fall Championship, and winner of three of seven outings this year. His 24-year-old trainer Gerardo Quinonez grew up around horses and would love to see his 17th career Quarter Horse win come in the Champion of Champions.

Here's the field from the rail out with morning lines in parenthesis:  Empressum (3-1), Hott Temptation (20-1), Hooked N Gone (20-1), Stanley Cartel (7/2), Unrelentless (30-1), FDD Dreams (6-1), RC Corona King (30-1), Scoops Dynasty (9-2), Jeriko (2-1) and Norco (20-1).

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The Champion of Champions was first contested at Los Alamitos in 1972 when Mr Jet Moore edged champions Kaweah Bar and Charger Bar. Since then, 29 of its winners have been crowned World Champion by the AQHA, including Empressum. He Looks Hot, Heza Dasha Fire. Easy Date, Dash For Cash, Refrigerator, SLM Big Daddy, Tailor Fit and Blues Girl Too are among the World Champions that have won the sport's most prestigious race for older horses. The winner of the 2025 Champion of Champions will earn $350,000. For more on the Champion of Champions please call 714-820-2788.

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Los Alamitos Special Champion Of Champions Post Position Draw
Order Was Randomly Drawn – Connections Selected Post Position On Wednesday, December 10

Order - HORSE - Trainer - Post Position Selected
1st – NORCO - Scott Willoughby - 10
2nd – JERIKO - Chris O’Dell – 9
3rd - SCOOPS DYNASTY - Luke Lindsey – 8
4th - RC CORONA KING - Gerardo Quinonez – 7
5th - FDD DREAMS - Xavier Rodriguez – 6
6th - STANLEY CARTEL - Luke Lindsey – 4
7th - UNRELENTLESS - Eddie Willis – 5
8th - HOOKED N GONE - Dean Frey – 3
9th – EMPRESSUM - Elena Andrade – 1
10th - HOTT TEMPTATION - Eddie Willis - 2

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