LEXINGTON - Mark Pope will spend part of his Friday at Keeneland, and he’s got a personal interest in one of the biggest races on the card.
The Kentucky men’s basketball coach said after his team’s 90-76 overtime exhibition win over Central Florida at Rupp Arena on Oct. 28 that he and his wife, Lee Anne, plan to be at the Breeders’ Cup later this week. Pope’s namesake, Coach Pope, is entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct. 30.
"I am so excited about 4:55 p.m. on Friday afternoon", Pope said. "Coach Pope will be racing in race No. 9 that day.
"So it's gonna be a great day."
Coach Pope is one of seven horses in the Juvenile field after Gaudreau, who also had been entered, scratched on Oct. 28.
The colt has made three starts and has finished in the top two in all of them. He broke his maiden in a special weight race at Churchill Downs on Sept. 12, then came back with a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland on Oct.
- His other effort was a second-place finish in a maiden special weight race at Saratoga in August.
Coach Pope is owned by Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck), Shamrock Stables and Michael J. Mackin.
He is trained by Kenny McPeek, who won the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby in 2024 with Thorpedo Anna and Mystik Dan, respectively. McPeek was born in Arkansas, but his path to horse racing royalty runs through Kentucky: he grew up in Lexington and later graduated from Tates Creek High and the University of Kentucky.
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