Brown Coffeee is one of of several sophomores heading into the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby trials on Saturday.

© Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA –JANUARY 22, 2025–Brown Coffeee, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity, Favorite Jesshawk, the winner of the Governor’s Cup Futurity, and six other finalists to Grade 1 futurities in 2024 are among the 23 sophomores that will race in the trials to the $175,350 Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Saturday night.

There are eight races on tap for Saturday night, with derby trials set for races 6, 7, and 8. Each trial will be contested at 400 yards, and the horses with the 10 fastest times will advance to the Winter Derby on February 15.

The first trial is a star-studded contest with Monty and Katsy Cluck and Ross Roark’s Brown Coffeee, EG High Desert Farms’ Favorite Jesshawk, and Armando Arreola, Cheryl Stokes and Tungsten Racing Partnership’s Train B Taka among the top contenders in the opening heat.

Brown Coffeee finished 2024 as one of the most impressive juveniles on the grounds, as he posted the fastest qualifying time to the Two Million Futurity and then finished a strong second in the $1,833,000 final. The Heath Taylor trainee flew out of the gate in the Two Million final before being edged by the impressive Lethal Cowboy 123 in the final.

Brown Coffeee finished with a pair of wins and top-three finishes in six of his seven starts for the year. Jose Nicasio will pilot the Good Reason Sa gelding from post two.

Favorite Jesshawk also enjoyed a terrific 2-year-old campaign, as he won five of nine starts, including the Governor’s Cup and then the Los Alamitos Two Million Juvenile Invitational on the same night as the Two Million final. The colt by A Mere Felix, who also won his trial to the Two Million, also ran impressively in the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity in November. Jesus Nunez will saddle the EG High Desert-bred runner from post three with Ricardo Ramirez up.

The Marc Jungers-trained Train B Taka has won both of his starts at Los Alamitos, with his most recent victory coming in the Holiday Handicap on the meet’s opening night on December 28. Like the other top runners in this race, the gelding by Freighttrain B also had a strong juvenile campaign, as he finished either first or second in five of his six outings last year. Edwin Escobedo will pilot Train B Taka.

The second trial will be headed by Johnny Trotter’s Cartel Perry, who won the Golden State Million trial before finishing third in the Grade 1 Golden State Million final. He had a rough go from there when he ran third in the Two Million trial and missed advancing to the rich final. The Chris O’Dell trainee enters as the big name in this heat but will have to deal with Keith Nellesen’s Jess Send Kevin, who ran in the Ed Burke Million Futurity in June of last year, and John Deere California Juvenile Challenge Apollitical Bet.

Ed Allred’s Norco and Mario Montiel’s Show N Tell Cartel, a pair of Grade 1 futurity finalists last year, will headline the third trial.

Norco, who ran in the Ed Burke, was second in his Two Million trial, finishing behind Two Million finalist American Dreamin. Show N Tell Cartel, who ran in the Two Million final, was a huge success story considering that he was claimed for $12,500 when running in the Los Alamitos Claiming Futurity.

In addition to the two Grade 1 finalists, other top names in the final trial include Favorite Semental, Val Sofia, and Bottle It Up.

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