The champion quarter horse Empressum died Saturday night at Los Alamitos after being pulled up early in a Grade I race won by Norco.
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Empressum, an 8-year-old gelding with $2.7 million in earnings and titles including 2022 American Quarter Horse Association world champion, looked in distress from a hind-leg injury immediately after starting with jockey Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo in the 440-yard Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship.
Jeff Blea, equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board, told the Daily Racing Form that Empressum “collapsed and died” on the track. A necropsy will be conducted, as is done after all horse deaths at California tracks.
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• At Santa Anita, favorite Grand Slam Smile nosed out 18-1 Miso Phansy in the California Distaff Handicap on Sunday to go over $1 million in career earnings with the closest of the 5-year-old mare’s 10 Cal-bred stakes victories.
Grand Slam Smile (who paid $4.20) was outrun early in the race switched from about 6-½ furlongs on the downhill turf course to 6-½ out of the turf chute following overnight rain. Still, jockey Juan Hernandez sent her outside and they outfinished the even-wider Miso Phansy and Armando Ayuso.
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Holiday racing starts at 1 p.m. on Monday.