Brown Coffeee avenges pair of tough losses in Los Alamitos Winter Derby
Brown Coffeee recorded a commanding win in Saturday’s $175,350 Los Alamitos Winter Derby for Quarter Horses, reversing tough losses in his last two starts.
Ridden by Jose Nicasio, Brown Coffeee ran 400 yards in 19.43 seconds for his first stakes win. Starting from the outside in a field of 10, Brown Coffeee was quickly in front and led by a half-length with 200 yards remaining.
Sent off favored, Brown Coffeee ($4) won by 1 1/2 lengths over 5-2 Train B Taka, the fastest qualifier from three time trials on Jan. 25. Cartel Perry, a trial race winner on Jan. 25, finished third on Saturday, a neck behind Train B Taka.
Brown Coffeee, a 3-year-old gelding by Good Reason Sa, was second by a neck in the $1.83 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 15, and second by a nose to Train B Taka in the Jan. 25 trials. Brown Coffeee has won 3 of 9 starts and earned $398,379. The win in the Winter Derby was worth $73,647.
Racing for the partnership of Ross Roark and Monte and Katsy Cluck, Brown Coffeee is trained by Kristen Watanabe, an assistant to Heath Taylor, who was summarily suspended by New Mexico racing officials last Wednesday. Five of Taylor’s runners in major stakes at the Downs at Albuquerque last September tested positive for the banned medication carmaterol, officials said.
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