When University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari questioned a call at Rupp Arena this season, he might not want the umpires to show tapes of the Rood & Riddle Breeders Rated Draw ‘Cup.
Calipari is the celebrity who paints the pills for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) pitch on October 31 at Rupp and, with the first pill, is called “seven” for Flight route . Immediately, Keeneland Race secretary Ben Huffman, sitting next to the Hall of Fame coach, stopped him and quietly told the coach to turn around. What Calipari thinks is “7” is actually “4.” The coach joked that he couldn’t read it.
“We’ll do this together,” Calipari said before pulling out another number and enlisting Huffman’s help for the rest of the way. “That’s one, I think.”
Calipari says the number “six” is readable because it’s written on the pill. The number six was written down to avoid confusion with “9.”
After, Olympiad drew 7. “There are seven,” said Calipari, chuckling.
Before withdrawing the first pill, Calipari said the Breeders’ Cup was a great event for Lexington and noted the quality of the pitches for this year’s World Championship.
