LOS ALAMITOS, CA—DECEMBER 3, 2021—The year-long Quarter Horse racing season reaches its crescendo on the weekend of December 11-12, as Los Alamitos Race Course hosts the running of the Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions on Saturday and the running of the Grade 1, $2.03 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Sunday.

In the Champion of Champions on Saturday night, Dunn Ranch’s Apollitical Pence will look to become the first back-to-back winner of this race since SLM Big Daddy won the 1997 and 1998 runnings.

Dunn Ranch will also be represented by Candy Blood, which they own in partnership with Rick Sumner, and also Really First Down, who was the final horse to earn a spot in the Champion of Champions.

Ed Allred, who won the Champion of Champions in 1973 with Charger Bar and in 2019 with He Looks Hot, will be represented by the full-brothers Circle City and Nomadic in this race. Both are by Favorite Cartel and out of the stakes winning mare Moonlight Corona.

Dutch Masters III has only started two horses in the Champion of Champions, but that will increase to three once Los Alamitos Super Derby winner Flash Bak leaves the gate on Saturday night. Flash Bak also won the Los Alamitos Winter Derby at the start of the year.

Rosenthal Ranch’s Powerful Favorite has been a model of excellence since his 2-year-old campaign. His 5-year-old season has been tremendous as he won the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Derby, spent time at Ruidoso Downs, and then returned to win the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Winter Championship here.

Paulo Otavio Freire Macedo’s Reason To Fly MV upset a quality field that included top aged mares to win the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap. The last 3-year-old filly to win the Champion of Champions is Blues Girl Too back in 2007.

The only aged mare in the field is Jimmy Vazquez and Jimmy Negrete’s Cat Daddys Lil, who has enjoyed a terrific campaign led by her Grade 1 victory in the Junos Request Stakes. Closing out this field is Steve Burns’ You Can Run, winner of the Go Man Go Handicap and a lightly raced runner in 2021 with two wins from his only three starts.

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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, 28 of its winners have been crowned World Champion by the AQHA, including the 2019 Champion of Champions winner He Looks Hot. 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. .

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On Wednesday afternoon, the connections of the Champion of Champions runners selected post positions for the race based on a random drawn conducted earlier in the day.

The number one selection went to Really First Down and trainer Monty Arrossa chose the outside 10 post. Owner James Streelman picked post number 9 for Flash Bak with the second selection. .

Trainer Chris O’Dell and the connections of Powerful Favorite opted for post seven followed by Reason To Fly MV whose connections decided for post number 8.

Arrossa had the next two choices and he gave Apollitical Pence post number six, which is the same spot from where he won the Champion of Champions last year, followed by post number four for Candy Blood.

Giles Racing Team selected post two for Cat Daddys Lil Girl which allowed Scott Willoughby to place Nomadic at post five, giving him some separation away from stablemate Circle City.

Mike Casselman took post three for You Can Run with the penultimate selection and Willoughby completed the draw with post one for Circle City.

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For more info, please contact larace@losalamitos.com. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @losalracing or visit us online at www.losalamitos.com.