Dutch Bros Founder, Owner’s Horse Nearly Places in Kentucky Derby

No, the horse's name is NOT the Flying Dutchman, but it did overcome the odds and finished fifth.

   Dutch Bros owner and founder has a race horse

The Kentucky Derby happened over the weekend, and a horse owned by Grants Pass businessman Travis Boersma finished 5th.  In 1992, he founded Dutch Bros Coffee in Grants Pass, operating out of a portable coffee stand-trailer.

  Now, 33 years later, he's worth $4 billion, second only to Phil Knight found of Nike.  Boersma has a horse name Owen Almighty, who operates out of an operation called Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing LLC. He founded Dutch Bros with his late brother Dane, passed away from ALS in 2009.

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The horse, which was set at a 30-1 favorite (very low!) but wound up placing fifth.  He didn't win, place or show (1-2-3) but was briefly leading toward the end of the race.

A local Kennewick barista told me about the race and the horse, and just for fun, he said a $10 dollar wager on Owen Almighty would have won you $300 if he'd won.

Dutch Bros has nearly 1,000 locations in 18 western US states.