Qualified by winning the Los Alamitos Winter Championship

The son of Mr Jess Perry was the first to earn a berth to the Champion of Champions after setting a stakes record when winning the Los Alamitos Winter Championship in February. But Gold Medal Jess struggled after that win, losing his next five starts before scoring a nose victory in the $33,250 First Down Dash Handicap on October 27. His 400-yard First Down Dash win came in his typical style. He was seventh out of the gate before flying in the final 50 yards to defeat 2005 El Primero Del Ano Derby winner Dutch Schultz by a head. "(Trainer) Bret Vickery told me that Gold Medal Jess wasn't the fastest horse of the gate but that I should hold on for the final 100 yards," said Sam Thompson, who piloted him on that night. Vickery ran Gold Medal Jess in the First Down Dash with the purpose of "point(ing) Gold Medal Jess in the right direction." "The First Down Dash really puts him in good shape for the Champion of Champions," Vickery said. "He's heart should be pumped. When he gets a clear path to run he can run with the best. He doesn't have much of an early kick but the longer the race the better. He actually breaks out of the gate okay but it's the second, third and fourth stride where he usually falls behind. We think it's because he's so big that it takes him a while to get going. What he does have is a very strong kick at the end." Owner Joel Rod Pierce purchased Gold Medal Jess with the purpose of standing him at stud in 2006. "When his former owner, Ken Harris, priced him for us we decided to go for it. He reeled off good effort after good effort and we just kept running him until the Winter Championship. We're humbled and honored to be blessed with this opportunity."

Bret Vickery has been part of the Champion of Champions four times at Los Alamitos. He first saddled Policy Tacs to a 6th place finish in 1999 before Beccas Bunny checked in with a third-place finish in 2002. AB What A Runner in 2003 and last year's fourth place finisher LDS Dash For Dylan have given Vickery his most recent tastes in the Champion of Champions. Bret will be associated with AB What A Runner for the rest of his career. Of course, that's a very good thing, considering what the gray filly accomplished. She won the All American Futurity in 2002 after setting a then 440-yard track record in the All American trials. She also set a then world record at 440 yards in the Les Boise Park. At Los Alamitos, AB What A Runner won several big races including the Los Alamitos Derby, the Mildred Vessels Handicap, and the Charger Bar Handicap. Bret was born in Emmett, Idaho. He grew up around horse racing as his father was an accomplished trainer in the Northwest. In the early 1980s, Vickery would take half of the family's stable and make his way to Wyoming while his father traveled to train at Ruidoso Downs. Vickery developed a solid reputation for getting the most out of his trainees. Bret now resides in St. George, Utah, with his wife Stacy and their children.

Joel Rod Pierce grew up with his family running a feed business in the 1970s in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, near Blue Ribbon Downs. When the local track was allowed to conduct pari-mutuel wagering in the 1980s, the then 18-year-old Pierce bought an inexpensive filly, which he immediately sent to a high school buddy for training. Things progressed from there. "I started getting nicer horses. My best during that time was an 870-yard campaigner named Sir Napalot, who set a track record at Remington Park and won three or four stakes races there." In the meantime, the family's feed business grew. "We built a feed mill and started selling feed in three states," he said. "A larger company bought us out three years ago. We've also built and sold shopping centers as well. We're big in the breeding business right now." His parents, Herb and Doris, his wife Amy and their children, daughter Alex and son Nick, head the Pierce family. "From father to mother to wife and kids, our ranch is family owned and operated," said the owner.

In late November of 2005, Pierce purchased the stallion Gold Medal Jess with the plan was to stand him at the famiy's 50-acre ranch alongside a stallion battery that included the Dan Lucas-bred Granite Lake, the winner of the Grade 2 $113,429 West Texas Derby in 2003 and runner-up to Southern Cartel in that year's $102,802 Ruidoso Derby. Pierce Ranch is also home to Streak And Dash, currently the nation's ninth leading freshman sire in money earned, and The Corona, whose foals will run in 2007. "Coming out of the Champion of Champions, Gold Medal Jess will likely be the highest profile horse among our stallions," Pierce acknowledged. "And I would take zero credit for what Gold Medal Jess has done. We bought him sight unseen. We just wanted a good looking of Mr Jess Perry and he was the exact fit for our ranch." Pierce Ranch is looking forward to once again breeding 300 mares next year. "We market a lot of horses," Pierce added. "We buy and sell horses and we're share holders in a few stallions such as Mr Jess Perry and Stoli." One of the horses Pierce sold was Gold Daze, the dam of Golden State Million Futurity winner and Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity finalist Jess You And I.