Page 42 - February_2023

SPEEDLINES
Empressum set two New Track Records in the...
40 SPEEDHORSE February 2023
Empressum had the honor of winning the 50th running of the Champion of Champions-G1. The field he faced provided a great example of why this race is so significant, not only for the distance, but also for the quality of the field. The 2022 race brought together one of the most successful fields in recent memory - maybe the most significant field in the history of
the race. It was billed as a “race for the ages.” The 2022 qualifiers had earned in excess of $9 million and included Danjer, the 2021 reigning AQHA World Champion, who
was the winner of four Grade 1 races in
2022 at 440 yards, including the AQHA Challenge Championship-G1. Then we
see Apollitical Pence, a 2-time Champion
of Champions-G1 winner and one of two horses to finish ahead of Empressum in 2022 with a win in the Los Alamitos Invitational Handicap-G1. And Bomb Cyclone, the winner of the Los Alamitos Super Derby-G1. The field also included Powerful Favorite, winner of the 440-yard 2022 All American Gold Cup-G1. Then there was A Pollitical Candy V, winner of the 2022 All American Derby-G1, and of course Empressum, winner of the 2022 Vessels Maturity-G1 and the 2022 Go Man Go Handicap-G1.
The road to the Champion of Champions was a well thought out plan for Empressum that was set up after his sterling performance in the 2021 race season. He won nine of his ten starts and earned $969,755 with Grade
1 wins in the Ruidoso Derby-G1, Rainbow Derby-G1 and the Texas Classic Derby-G1. He set two New Track Records, one in the Texas Classic Derby-G1, going 440 yards
in :21.030. He set a New Track Record at Ruidoso for 400 yards in a time of :19.149 in the trials of the Ruidoso Derby-G1. He was awarded the AQHA Champion Three Year Old and the Champion Three-Year-Old Gelding titles.
With the success of 2021 behind them, the Empressum team set out in 2022 with
the goal of running in the Champion of Champions-G1. This called for them to base Empressum at Los Alamitos Race Course, avoiding the travels that they could have encountered had they taken a different route to get to the Champion of Champions-G1. The record shows that the move to Los Alamitos was the right move. He ran one race outside California in 2022, finishing second by a neck in The Championship at Sunland Park-G1 in January. He was rested and moved to California where he made his next start in June in the trials to the Vessels Maturity-G1, where he was the fastest qualifier. He came
was a very good year for this racing team and their breeding program.
The success we see with the Jones/Holt breeding and ownership program had its beginning in the 1980’s with Holt’s trips to Ross Downs before pari-mutuel wagering. With the oil bust of the mid 80’s, his interest in racing was put on hold until his purchase of Stepping Stone Ranch in about 2002. This time the return to racing came with
an interest in breeding good racehorses
as well as purchasing them to race. Then
the partnership with Jeff Jones led to the successful breeding and racing program for these two men that we see today. When we studied this breeding program, we learned it was built around quality and not quantity. We saw a breeding program that made wise decisions based on their financial standing, giving many with modest incomes the hope for success.
EMPRESSUM AND THE 50TH CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS
The Jones/Holt Partnership has the distinction of winning the All American Futurity-G1 and the Champion of Champions-G1, the two most significant races for the racing American Quarter Horse in the same year. Both races are run at 440 yards. These two races have resulted in a number of World Champions over the years, but it is the Champion of Champions that has netted the most World Champions. It began in 1972 when Mr Jet Moore won, and he was named World Champion. He was followed by such horses
as Easy Date, Dash For Cash, Refrigerator, Dashing Folly, SLM Big Daddy, A Ransom, Tailor Fit, Wave Carver, Blues Girl Too, Freaky, Apollitical Jess, Last To Fire, Heza Dasha
Fire, Bodacious Eagle and He Looks Hot - all winners of the Champion of Champions and then a World Championship title.
Texas Classic Derby-G1, going 440 yards in :21.030.
Ruidoso Derby-G1 trial, going 400 yards in :19.149.
© Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse © Dustin Orona