Kentucky

The Road To The 2023 Kentucky Derby: With $2.25 Million In Purses, Post Positions Are Drawn For The Florida And Arkansas Derbies

Published

1 year ago

March 28, 2023

The Road To The 2023 Kentucky Derby: With $2.25 Million In Purses, Post Positions Are Drawn For The Florida And Arkansas Derbies

The Street To Kentucky Leads By Florida: The 2022 Florida Derby battle to the end with … [+] Simplification #3, ridden by Jose L. Ortiz leads White Abarrio #7, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, and Pappacap #5, ridden by Edwin Gonzalez, out of the ultimate flip through the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on April 02, 2022 in Hallandale, Florida. (Picture by Matthew Stockman/Getty Pictures)

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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)

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Kentucky

Monday Headlines: Great Osobor Watch

Published

3 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Press Room

After being introduced as the new coach of the Kentucky Wildcats a few weeks ago, Mark Pope is putting together quite the roster for his first year coaching the Wildcats.

Kentucky most likely won’t return a single player from last year’s team, but that means Pope has more roster spots to fill with his guys and he’s doing a terrific job so far.

Pope has wasted zero time adding Amari Williams (Drexel University), Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Collin Chandler (recruit), Lamont Butler (San Diego State), Otega Oweh (Oklahoma) and retaining Kentucky Mr. Basketball Travis Perry.

Now, he’ll meet with Utah State transfer Great Osobor in Lexington.

Osobor led the Aggies in points (17.7), rebounds (9) and blocks (1.4) last season.

Considering Kentucky already has Carr and Williams at the center spot, Osobor could slide in at either forward spot (depending on how big/small Pope wants his lineup to be) and make an immediate impact at both ends of the floor.

Per Kentucky Sports Radio, Osobor’s family will travel from England and join him on his visit.

Pope and his assistants appear to be establishing a culture and hand-picking veteran guys in the transfer portal with winning attitudes. In addition to Osobor’s meeting this week, Pope is schedule to meet with Dayton transfer Koby Brea on Tuesday.

Check back here for more updates on Pope’s roster build.

Tweet of the Day

Mark Pope is committed to the grind.

Headlines

No. 4 Kentucky drops weekend series at No. 24 South Carolina – Cats Pause

The Cats have now lost back-to-back series.

UK Fan gets Unique Chance to Meet Mark Pope – Vaught’s Views

BBN is on cloud nine right now.

McIlroy, Lowry win Zurich Classic in playoff – ESPN

This was a fun event.

Sheppard Made Right Choice Heading To NBA – Vaught’s Views

Just made sense.

Mark Daigneault wins NBA Coach of the Year – USA Today

Well-deserved.

Andru Phillips Ready to Begin NFL Work with Giants – Vaught’s Views

He should have an immediate role.

Georgia reels in Arizona State QB transfer Jaden Rashada – 247Sports

Potential starter for 2025.

Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr commits to Kentucky – KSR

Sunday night fireworks.

2024 PGA Championship odds, field – CBS Sports

Coming to Louisville in two weeks.

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Kentucky

Kentucky lands former Wake Forest forward Andrew Carr

Published

10 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Press Room

Kentucky lands former Wake Forest forward Andrew Carr

It’s looking more every day like Kentucky will actually field a full roster under new coach Mark Pope — and it’s shaping up to be a pretty good one. A very old one, too. Pope has been on the job for just 16 days and inherited a roster of zero scholarship players. Now he has six.

Andrew Carr, a 6-foot-11 forward from Wake Forest, became the latest addition and fourth transfer to pick Pope and the Wildcats. He gives Pope’s high-octane, 3-point-heavy offense a legitimate stretch-4. Carr averaged 13.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocks last season for the Demon Deacons — and he made 37 percent of his 3s on almost 100 attempts.

Also notable: Carr has played 117 college games and made 112 starts. He’s part of a dramatic makeover in the makeup of Kentucky’s roster, which was perpetually young under Pope’s predecessor, John Calipari. This new group already has Carr, former San Diego State guard Lamont Butler (131 games, 102 starts), former Drexel center Amari Williams (105 games, 79 starts) and former Oklahoma guard Otega Oweh (60 games, 37 starts).

Even one of the Cats’ two incoming freshmen, former top-40 recruit Collin Chandler, is 20 years old after serving a two-year Mormon mission. And Kentucky is only going to keep getting older as it continues building out the roster through the transfer portal.

Pope hosted former Saint Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney (69 games, 60 starts) for a visit over the weekend. He’ll host former Utah State forward Great Osobor (104 games, 38 starts) and former Minnesota guard Elijah Hawkins (92 games, 88 starts) for visits this week. Pope’s best player at BYU, 6-foot-7 wing Jaxson Robinson (96 games, 44 starts), also just entered the transfer portal and the Wildcats will be a major player for his services.

As for the latest addition, Carr might be the most skilled player on the roster so far. He had 31 points and 11 rebounds against Georgia in the NIT this season, dropped 28 points on eventual Final Four team NC State and had 26 points, six boards, three blocks, two steals and two assists in a win over Florida. He also had a 12-and-12 double-double against Virginia, an 18-point game against Duke and 17 points, five rebounds and three assists against Clemson.

Not only is he a strong addition, but Carr represents another big recruiting win for Pope. Carr came to Lexington straight from a visit to Texas Tech. Then he took a visit to Villanova right after the trip to Kentucky. And by Sunday night, he announced his commitment to the Cats. This on the heels of Pope’s whirlwind to end last week: he hosted Oweh on Thursday, locked up a commitment and flew across the country to Las Vegas on Friday to close the deal on Butler. He was back in Lexington that same night to welcome Mahaney and Carr.

That’s how you go from zero to six players in 16 days.

Required reading

(Photo: Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)

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Kentucky

Mark Pope staying patient with his final coaching staff hire

Published

17 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Press Room

Mark Pope staying patient with his final coaching staff hire

Kentucky Basketball has filled out its staff nicely after hiring Mark Pope as the new head coach.

Since the hiring of Pope, Kentucky has hired former Georgia head coach Mark Fox, former BYU assistant Cody Fueger, former G-League Ignite/USC assistant Jason Hart, and former Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks.

With all of those hirings, Kentucky still needs to hire one more assistant coach for the staff.

Although fans are eager to finish out the staff along with getting a completed roster, it may take some time to find the last staff member for the team, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

Remember, there are now five assistant spots for handling on-court coaching, but only three of them can recruit off campus, those being Brooks, Fueger, and Hart. This final hire is one of the spots for a coach who can’t recruit off campus.

This is Pope’s staff at Kentucky so far:
Alvin Brooks III (associate HC)
Jason Hart (G League Ignite HC/former USC asst)
Cody Fueger (BYU asst)
Mark Fox (special asst)
Pope has one more off-the-road spot to fill. I’m told it’ll be a while before that pick is in.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2024

Early on in the process of filling out the staff, many media members and fans thought Keegan Brown could make his way from BYU to Kentucky, but that never came to fruition, along with Orlando Antigua possibly wanting to stay. He has since taken a job at Illinois.

Kenny Payne was an option, but he has since accepted a job at Arkansas to team up with John Calipari. Of course, there were some talks of former Kentucky basketball players joining the staff, including Jeff Sheppard, Scott Padgett, Derek Anderson, Rajon Rondo, Tyler Ulis, and others.

With the staff being basically completed, Pope and Co. will now start to finish the roster for this upcoming year’s team, with a lot of openings to fill and not too much time to do so.

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