JERIKO DOMINATES RUNNING OF LOS ALAMITOS CHAMPIONSHIP
Bobby Cox’s Jeriko took care of business in a decisive manner in the 70th running of the Grade 1 Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship, as the homebred gelding ran a perfect 440-yard race in route to a 1 ¾ length victory here on Saturday night.
It was redemption for Jeriko, who in his previous outing was disqualified from first and placed seventh in the Grade 1 Go Man Go Handicap here on August 25. It was redemption for jockey Jose Nicasio as well, as he was aboard Jeriko in that troubled-filled running of the Go Man Go. This time around, Nicasio made all the right moves in piloting Jeriko to a winning time of :21.495 in the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship.
“I’m just to happy and it’s hard to express how I’m feeling,” Nicasio said. “I’m so happy and feel so blessed. I’m happy for the people that are with me, my family, my daughters. In the last race, we had some complications. One of the horses on the outside bumped into us and made my horse slide. That led to incidents in the race that shouldn’t have happened. This time we had a much cleaner trip, and we knew that we had a horse for this 440-yard distance. He finished super.”
When Jeriko was disqualified in the Go Man Go, the 2022 AQHA World Champion Empressum was moved up to first after crossing the wire a nose behind his foe. Empressum crossed the wire behind Jeriko once again, but the significant margin of victory may have signaled a change of the guard at the top of the aged Quarter Horse division in California. With this win, Jeriko earns a presumptive berth to the Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions to be held here on Saturday, December 14. Jeriko, who won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby last year, ran in the 2023 Champion of Champions, finishing fourth after being as far back as ninth during the running of the race.
“The horse ran tremendous (in the Go Man Go),” said Heath Taylor, who trains both Jeriko and Empressum. “It felt like (Jeriko) had won that race and had qualified (to the Champion of Champions) and then those kinds of things happen. He had the fastest time for the Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship and there was a berth on the line that time. He didn’t run a very good race (in the final). So, there were two opportunities that he had that he could have potentially made it to the Champion of Champions.
“We always thought that this horse could be a really good 440 horse as a 4-year-old and 5-year-old. To finally get in the Champion of Champions and to get another Grade 1 win in really nice. Of course, the Champion of Champions is the marquee race for older horses and it’s great to have a berth. Empressum already had won two races that qualified to the Champion of Champions so obviously I wanted them to finish in a dead heat but that usually doesn’t happen. It’s now great to have two nice horse in the race.”
Taylor talked about keeping Nicasio aboard Jeriko following that tough Go Man Go DQ.
“Watching the replay of the Go Man Go, I thought it was a close call,” Taylor said. “It could have gone either way. I thought (Nicasio) was just trying to win the race. He does most of all the work at the barn, he’s here every day and won the Super Derby on this horse. Had Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo not had Empressum in this race, and we almost didn’t run Empressum here, then that would have made it a lot more difficult of a decision. In the end, it was the right thing to do to keep Nicasio on the horse.”
Sired by One Famous Eagle, Jeriko earned $49,500 for the win to take his career earnings to $948,272. Owned and bred by Steve Holt and Jeff Jones, Empressum earned $20,250 to take his career earnings to $2,158,873. Taylor added that Jeriko and Empressum will skip the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trials on November 17 and wait until the Champion of Champions.
The outstanding Brazilian runner Edberg Verde earned $11,250 for running third in this race. Henry Reynoso Lopez rode Edberg Verde for trainer Paul Jones. Candy Blood, Hooked N Gone and Cattail Cove completed the field. Scoops Dynasty was scratched earlier in the day.
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