Juddmonte Farms’ loss is also a tremendous loss for horse racing
Random notes:
▪ Horse racing and Lexington lost a giant Tuesday. Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, owner of Juddmonte Farms, south of Lexington, died at age 83.
Prince Khalid’s iconic green, pink and white silks raced over 500 stakes winners, 440 of which he bred. He raced 118 Group/Grade 1 winners, 102 of which he bred. He was a nine-time Eclipse Award winner, four times as top owner, five as top breeder.
▪ Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach of all time. Case closed.
▪ Eight teams remain in the NFL playoffs. The rosters of those eight teams contain four players who played collegiately at Louisville, two who played at Western Kentucky, two who played at the University of Kentucky and one who played at Eastern Kentucky. EKU, WKU and U of L also have a player each on injured reserve. UK has a player on a practice squad.
Louisville’s active players are Jaire Alexander (Packers), James Burgess (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Ravens) and Sheldon Rankins (Saints). Kentucky’s players are Mike Edwards (Buccaneers) and Za’Darius Smith (Packers). Western Kentucky’s players are Tyler Higbee (Rams) and Deon Yelder (Chiefs). Eastern Kentucky’s player is Tim Boyle (Packers).
▪ Yes, Alabama scored 63 points on Kentucky this season. It also scored 63 points on Ole Miss. It scored 55 on LSU. It scored 52 on Arkansas, Florida and Ohio State. Feel better now?
▪ UK’s new running backs coach, Jemal, Singleton should quickly learn Liam Coen’s offense. Mark Stoops’ new offensive coordinator is coaching under Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams. Singleton’s old boss, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, coached under McVay in Los Angeles before being hired by the Bengals.
▪ Three members of UK football’s new offensive staff will have coached in the NFL: Coen with the Rams; Singleton with the Colts and Bengals; offensive line coach Eric Wolford with the 49ers.
▪ Former Kentucky (1998-2001) wide receiver and defensive back Champ Kelly is reportedly a finalist for the Denver Broncos’ general manager job. Kelly is currently in the Chicago Bears’ front office. Before coming to Chicago, Kelly was with the Broncos from 2007-14.
▪ Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow told the Cincinnati media Tuesday he is “on pace” to be ready for Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season. “They say it’s a 9-12 month recovery and the first game is exactly nine months from the injury,” said Burrow, who suffered a torn ACL in his rookie year.
▪ If you missed it, former Kentucky basketball guard Jemarl Baker is out for the season at Arizona with a broken wrist. The junior was averaging 12 points per game.
▪ At UCLA, former UK guard Johnny Juzang is averaging 11.4 points per game.
▪ The NCAA’s strategy on Name, Image and Likeness legislation appears to be delay, delay, delay.
▪ Former Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano is moving on to Washington State as a graduate transfer. Former Tennessee running back Ty Chandler is moving on to North Carolina.
▪ The coaches manual dictates all new defensive coordinators must promise they will run an “aggressive” scheme during their introductory press conference.
▪ Betonline puts Kentucky football’s chances of winning next year’s College Football Playoff at 100-1. Sportsbetting.com puts UK’s chances at 200-1.
▪ Louisville basketball plays at Wake Forest on Wednesday night. Chris Mack’s club is now No. 16 in the AP Top 25. Thanks to a home game with Georgia Tech being postponed, four of U of L’s first five ACC games will have been played on the road. The Cards are currently 3-0 in the conference.
▪ After going 8-0 in the 2020 part of its schedule, the No. 4-ranked Kentucky volleyball team gets back into action Jan. 29 at Arkansas.
▪ Speaking of records, Eastern Kentucky basketball is 11-2 overall and 5-1 in the OVC. The Colonels sit a game behind Belmont (6-0) in the conference standings. A.W. Hamilton’s team doesn’t play Belmont until Feb. 11 in Nashville. Belmont visits Richmond on Feb. 25.
▪ After losing the national title game, Ohio State Coach Ryan Day sounded much like UK Coach Mark Stoops after winning the Gator Bowl. Said Day, “We need a break. We all need to get away for a long, long while.”
