Trio of runners should dominate betting in Winter Derby
Of the three runners with the fastest qualifying times for Saturday’s $175,300 Los Alamitos Winter Derby, Train B Taka has the least experience in major stakes.
Last April, in his second start, Train B Taka finished second by a nose in the $311,951 West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park. He did not start in another six-figure race for the remainder of 2024.
Train B Taka set the fastest qualifying time of 19.84 seconds for the Winter Derby with a win in the first of three 400-yard time trials on Jan. 25. Train B Taka finished a nose in front of Brown Coffeee, who was timed in 19.85 seconds and has the second-fastest time. Brown Cofeee was second by a neck in the $1.83 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Dec. 15.
In the third time trial on Jan. 25, Cartel Perry won by half a length in 19.86 seconds. Last October, Cartel Perry was third in the $1.07 million Golden State Million Futurity at Los Alamitos.
Those three runners should dominate betting in the Winter Derby.
Train B Taka, owned by Armando Arreola, Cheryl Stokes, and the Tungsten Racing Partnership, has yet to lose since arriving at Los Alamitos last fall with trainer Marc Jungers. Train B Taka won a 300-yard allowance race on Dec. 8 and the $25,000 Holiday Handicap for 2-year-olds at 350 yards on Dec. 28 in advance of his trial win. Jungers began training Train B Taka in the fall, while Eric Valenzuela trained the horse in New Mexico last spring and summer.
Brown Coffeee and the longshot Jess Send Kevin will start in Saturday’s Winter Derby for trainer Kristen Watanabe, a former assistant to Heath Taylor, who was summarily suspended by New Mexico racing officials on 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.
Cartel Perry, trained by Chris O’Dell for Ruidoso Downs owner Johnny Trotter, won for the third time in eight starts in the Winter Derby trials. Cartel Perry was beaten by three-quarters of a length in the Golden State Million Futurity by American Dreamin, who later tested positive for carmaterol. American Dreamin is trained by Monty Arrossa, who is permitted to continue training under California rules until stewards reach a decision on a possible penalty for the positive.
Arrossa has the longshot Apollitical Bet in the Winter Derby. Apollitical Bet was fifth behind Cartel Perry in the trials.
Favorite Semental was also a trial race winner on Jan. 25 in the slower time of 19.94 seconds and would be a surprise winner for trainer Felix Gonzalez on Saturday.
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