Who are Mark Pope and the UK coaches picking for the Kentucky Derby?
It’s the Kentucky basketball staff’s first Derby in the Commonwealth as coaches of the Wildcats, and they’ve come prepared. Like the rest of us, Mark Pope and his four assistants have their favorites for the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby scheduled to run this evening in Louisville.
Who are they picking to win the Run for the Roses? They released their predictions on social media Saturday morning — with no overlaps.
- Mark Pope: Sierra Leone (5-1)
- Mark Fox: Forever Young (6-1)
- Alvin Brooks III: Fierceness (3-1)
- Jason Hart: Catching Freedom (8-1)
- Cody Fueger: Just A Touch (11-1)
Brooks went with the morning-line favorite in Fierceness, trained by Todd Pletcher and jockeyed by John Velazquez. From there, Pope’s Sierra Leone, trained by Chad Brown and jockeyed by Tyler Gafflione, is the next-closest betting favorite after winning the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Fox’s Forever Young, a Japanese horse trained by Yoshito Yahagi and jockeyed by Ryusei Sakai, is next up, followed by Hart’s Catching Freedom — a Brad Cox horse jockeyed by Flavien Prat.
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And then to round out the group is Fueger’s Just A Touch with the longest odds, also trained by Brad Cox and coming from 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify.
Post time is set for 6:57 p.m. ET on NBC. Who will earn the bragging rights among Kentucky’s basketball coaches?
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