Kentucky
The Road To The 2023 Kentucky Derby: With $2.25 Million In Purses, Post Positions Are Drawn For The Florida And Arkansas Derbies
Precisely 5 hundred-point win-and-you’re-in races stay on the Street to the Kentucky Derby, two of which beckon (no jokes right here) on April 1, particularly, the Florida and Arkansas derbies at Gulfstream and Oaklawn Park respectively, garlanded with their invites to enter the massive present at Churchill come Might. Submit positions for each high-stakes preps have been drawn on 27 March, and the trainers and their athletes are girding for battle.
The Florida Derby submit time is 6:40 p.m. EDT in Hallandale, and the Arkansas Derby shoots off an hour later, at 7:40 EDT (6:40 p.m. CDT) in Scorching Springs. Proof of the advertising care being given to and the success being had by Churchill’s staging of the Street to the Kentucky Derby, CNBC will broadcast from Hallandale; Fox Sports activities will probably be on responsibility in Scorching Springs.
After all, that’s not all: It seems from the standings as if there’s going to be a quite fuzzy, barely forgiving 30-point cutoff this 12 months, in order that the place and present horses in these races — who stand to earn 50 and 30 factors respectively — will no less than put themselves in place give their connections the chance to wrestle with whether or not they need to enter. And: There are a few “wild card” probabilities to eke out qualifying for an invitation within the New Mexico’s Sunland Derby on Saturday, providing because it does 50 Derby factors to the winner and 20 to the place horse, in addition to an opportunity for a 30-point win for British runners at Chelmsford Metropolis on Saturday.
In a phrase, spring has sprung for the Derby Class of 2023.
Earlier than we get into the particulars of the April 1 and April 8 hundred-point battles, herewith, the submit place attracts for the Florida and Arkansas derbies.
Florida Derby: Submit place, Horse, Coach, Jockey, Morning Line
1. Bourbon Bash, D. Wayne Lukas, Reylu Gutierrez, 15-1
2. Interlock Empire, Kenny McPeek, David Cabrera, 20-1
3. Harlocap, Steve Asmussen, Ricardo Santana Jr., 15-1
4. Two Eagles River, Chris Hartman, Nik Juarez, 10-1
5. Airtime, Robertino Diodoro, Cristian Torres, 15-1
6. Angel of Empire, Brad Cox, Flavien Prat, 9-2
7. Rocket Can, Invoice Mott, Junior Alvarado, 4-1
8. Reincarnate, Tim Yakteen, John Velazquez, 5-2
9. King Russell, Ron Moquett, Rafael Bejarano, 30-1
10. Crimson Route One, Steve Asmussen, Tyler Gaffalione, 3-1
11. Kolomio, Keith Desormeaux, James Graham, 30-1
(Source: Gulfstream Park, 3/28/2023)
Notable in these actually entertaining fields are the trainers with a couple of horse, most notably, the irrepressible Barbadian coach, Saffie Joseph Jr., with a minimum of 4 runners from his secure within the Hots Springs run, Steve Asmussen, with two horses at Gulfstream, trainers William Mott and Tim Yakteen every with one in Florida and one in Arkansas. In a phrase, the horsemen are gunning for the brass ring — a wonderful index for the well being of the game.
As notable, the Derby-winning Corridor of Fame coach Todd Pletcher, arguably most well-known for working a couple of horse at Churchill in Might, has only one horse working this weekend, however that’s the formidable Forte, in Scorching Springs. As ever, any horse educated by Pletcher in any Kentucky Derby prep is by definition a horse to observe, and Forte definitely will match that invoice on Saturday. Principally, with 90 factors to his credit score going into the weekend, he’s going to the Derby, and he doesn’t need to win this race. Nonetheless, as famous from the morning line and actually each tout on the market on each side of the Atlantic, the aptly-named Forte’s anticipated to mop up.
(Arkansas Derby: Submit Place, Horse, Coach, Jockey, Morning Line)
1. Jungfrau, Invoice Mott, Paco Lopez, 20-1
2. West Coast Cowboy, Saffie Joseph Jr., Sonny Leon, 20-1
3. Shaq Diesel, Renaldo Richards, Miguel Vasquez, 30-1
4. Mage, Gustavo Delgado, Luis Saez, 10-1
5. Mr. Peeks, Saffie Joseph Jr., Edwin Gonzalez, 30-1
6. Nautical Star, Saffie Joseph Jr., Leonel Reyes, 30-1
7. Il Miracolo, Antonio Sano, Jesus Rios, 30-1
8. Mr. Ripple, Saffie Joseph Jr., Edgard Zayas, 30-1
9. Cyclone Mischief, Dale Romans, Javier Castellano, 8-1
10. Fort Bragg, Tim Yakteen, Joel Rosario, 5-1
11. Forte, Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr., 4-5
12. Dubyuhnell, Danny Gargan, Jose Ortiz, 6-1
(Source: Oaklawn Park, 3/28/2023)
Kentucky
Trends all lean Kentucky's way in Governor's Cup
Mark Stoops owns a five-game winning streak in the Governor’s Cup series. The Wildcats have won three games in a row at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium and have not lost to Louisville at Kroger Field since 2017 when Bobby Petrino was holding the call sheet and and Lamar Jackson was playing quarterback. The Wildcats have also covered a lot of spreads in this series.
Stoops is 7-2-1 against-the-spread (ATS) in this series with with covers as a double-digit dog in 2014 and 2016. Kentucky has beaten Louisville outright as a dog three times since 2016 and has covered five straight in this series. Those are not the only trends going in Kentucky’s direction heading into this Week 14 contest.
Louisville is 0-4-1 ATS as a road favorite under Jeff Brohm with outright losses to Pittsburgh and Stanford. Kentucky is 5-0-1 ATS as a dog in its last six outing including four games this season. Kentucky covered numbers as a double-digit dog against Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas this season.
The visitor is 11-3-1 ATS (5-10 outright) in the last 14 meetings of this series with 10 outright wins but Kentucky has won the last two meetings at Kroger Field covering each times as a three-point favorite. In 2019, Kentucky ran away for a 45-13 victory and cruised to a 26-13 victory in 2022.
Kentucky has consistently overachieved pregame expectations in this series. The Wildcats are currently a 3.5-point dog with a total of 48.5. That’s a projected final score of 26-22.5. Will UK exceed expectations again against Louisville? A win would equal four outright upsets for the Big Blue in the last eight meetings of the series.
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Kentucky
ESPN predicts the winner between Kentucky and Western Kentucky
Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to host the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for an in-state battle in Rupp Arena. This is a game that is always fun as it brings different parts of Kentucky together to share in the state’s favorite pastime, which is basketball.
WKU is 3-2 on the season with wins over Lipscomb, Jackson State, and Campbellsville. The Hilltoppers lost to Wichita State and Grand Canyon.
While Kentucky steamrolled Lipscomb, they are a solid team, and Western Kentucky was able to take them down 66-61, so the Wildcats can’t look past this matchup. This shouldn’t be an issue as Coach Pope respects the game and doesn’t let his team look past an opponent.
While WKU is a solid mid-major team, ESPN doesn’t seem to think the Wildcats will have any issue taking down the Hilltoppers, as they give Kentucky a 97.5% chance to win this game.
The best player for the Hilltoppers is guard Don McHenry, who is averaging 17.2 points per game five games into the season. The 6’2 guard is shooting 32.4% from three on the season, but he lets a lot of them fly, so the Wildcats can let him get hot from deep.
The goal for this Kentucky team when they take on WKU should be to keep working on defense and rebounding while the offense keeps doing what it has been doing all season long. If the Wildcats can keep improving in these two areas, they will be hard to beat come SEC play and March.
Kentucky
Liberty 38-21 Western Kentucky (Nov 23, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN
LYNCHBURG, Va. — — Quinton Cooley rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns, Billy Lucas added 131 yards and a score, and Liberty gained 419 on the ground with four touchdowns in a 38-21 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday.
Liberty (8-2, 5-2 Conference USA) has won eight-plus games for the sixth consecutive season to keep alive hopes of a second straight trip to the conference championship game. The Flames play Sam Houston (8-3, 5-2) on Friday.
Liberty scored 21 straight points to close the first quarter, the last covering 90 yards in just 45 seconds to take a 21-7 lead.
Amarian Williams made two interceptions, including one with 2:03 remaining to seal it. Caden Veltkamp was intercepted three times before finishing 20 of 34 for 262 yards and two touchdowns for Western Kentucky (7-4, 5-2).
Cooley reached 1,000 yards rushing for the second straight season. The Flames entered ranked No. 5 nationally in rushing yards/game (249.8). Quarterback Kaidon Salter also carried 11 times for 66 yards and a touchdown. Three other players had at least two rushes for Liberty, which ended with 63 carries.
The Flames, in their season finale at Williams Stadium, avoided dropping multiple conference games at home for the first time since 2005.
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