Breeders' Cup Juvenile: Coach Pope figures to get plenty of local support
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A recently released pre-season poll has the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team, coached by Mark Pope, ranked seventh of 16 teams in the highly competitive Southeastern Conference.
The 2-year-old colt Coach Pope, named for the UK hoops coach, figures to garner more support among horseplayers in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to be run Oct. 30 at Keeneland, about six miles from Rupp Arena, the home of the UK men’s basketball team.
Coach Pope, along with American History, figure to vie for second choice behind the expected heavy favorite and unbeaten Hughes in the Juvenile. Coach Pope does bring a solid résumé to the race, including a runner-up finish in a highly rated maiden race at Saratoga in August, a dominant 12 1/2-length maiden victory at Churchill in September, and a game second-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland two weeks ago.
Coach Pope, a son of Tapit owned by Gainesway Stable, Shamrock Stables, and Michael Mackin and trained by Kenny McPeek, finished second in a hot maiden race at Saratoga won by Gaudreau. Third-place finisher U. S. S. Valor came back to win his maiden by 13 1/4 lengths and the Grade 1 Champagne by 6 1/2 lengths.
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Meanwhile, Coach Pope came back to win his maiden by 12 1/2 lengths in a one-mile race at Churchill. In that race, jockey Jose Ortiz was basically motionless from the time he split horses to make the lead in the middle of the far turn to the wire. In the Breeders’ Futurity, Coach Pope attacked Q B Rocket from the outside, those two dueling from virtually the half-mile pole to the wire while getting nailed late by American History. Coach Pope, beaten one length, finished second by a neck over Q B Rocket.
“I knew that once we stretched him out, he’d be even better, but you don’t know who’s behind any of these horses, you don’t know what he beat,” McPeek said. “Sometimes they beat easy groups, but he did it well, a lot to get excited about. The dogfight he was in in the Futurity is really where you start learning about good horses, and he held his own and he fought off [Q B Rocket] and just got run down. That’s the kind of race he’s going to have to endure in the next six months to a year.”
McPeek is a big UK fan. He has become friends with the human Coach Pope and sends him videos of the horse’s progress.
“When we named the horse after him it was just for giggles in the beginning, but now it’s getting pretty serious,” McPeek said. “In all likelihood, this horse will go to stud somewhere someday too. It’s fun, it’s what racing’s about.”
Much like the UK basketball team will be an underdog when it meets highly ranked Florida, Coach Pope, the horse, will be an underdog to in the Juvenile to Hughes, the Bob Baffert-trained colt who is 4 for 4 with two Grade 1 victories.
“It’s all wide open. I’m not worried about everybody else’s horse, we’re just worried about making sure ours is in good order going into it and go from there,” McPeek said.
McPeek had another 2-year-old that may have been worthy of consideration for the Juvenile. However, Mystik Bayou, a good-looking winner of a maiden race on Oct. 3 at Belmont, is not Breeders’ Cup nominated. It would cost his connections $200,000 to make him eligible for the Juvenile. McPeek said Mystik Bayou, a half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, would likely be pointed to the Street Sense Stakes on Oct. 25 at Churchill.
It is expected the Juvenile will draw 10 or fewer pre-entries come Monday’s pre-entry deadline. American History, Coach Pope, Full Access, He Is No Lie, Hughes, Net Par, Q B Rocket, and Salahudin are among those expected to be pre-entered. Damavand and Gaudreau are possible.
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