Lakeside's Will Gordon battled in the Junior PGA Championships at Hot Springs Country Club during the week, and Majestic Park prepared for its fall season.
MONDAY
MOTT, PLETCHER TAKE SARATOGA GRADE 1S
July 29 is a special day for trainer Bill Mott that his fans have come to expect big things from his horses. Saturday was no exception.
Mott celebrated his 70th birthday with another Grade 1 victory at the upscale Saratoga meeting in upstate New York. Don't look now, but the man who saddled Cigar, a reluctant turf star, to 16 consecutive victories on dirt is at it again with 5-year-old Elite Power's winning streak now at eight after taking the Grade 1 $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap.
Curlin's son won by a head over Gun Runner product Gunite, matching sires with three Horse of the Year awards. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode both Elite Power and fellow champion Forte later in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy for Todd Pletcher, who like Mott is in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame at Saratoga.
TUESDAY
CONDLEY EXCITED ABOUT LADY WOLVES' FUTURE
Lake Hamilton's Lady Wolves have been hitting the gym and making use of camps this summer after an 11-18 overall record and 8-8 5A-South run last season.
"We hit most of our camp dates in June," head coach Blake Condley said. "We had a couple in July. We spent some time at (Ouachita Baptist) for team camp. We went two days there. When we first started out at OBU, it was a little rough.
"We had some growing pains, but once the girls got a little more comfortable playing together and learning what we were trying to do, we were really pleased. I did not feel like it took very many games for them to figure stuff out. It was actually the second day when we went to that camp was even better than the day before."
WEDNESDAY
FORMER RAZORBACK QUARTERBACK JONES A 'KJ FAN'
Former Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones thinks he could still take the current field general for the Hogs, KJ Jefferson, in a footrace.
"I could probably beat KJ now," Jones said, jokingly, at last Friday's meet and greet for Jefferson at Armor Bank in Hot Springs. "If he really wanted to race."
Jones brought his radio show "Halftime" to the meet and greet for Jefferson, the Hogs' current senior quarterback.
JUNIOR PGA GETS UNDERWAY AT HSCC
Over 300 teens are participating in the Junior PGA Championships on the Park and Arlington courses at Hot Springs Country Club this week.
There are 312 golfers -- 156 boys and 156 girls -- from six countries competing, with the boys vying for the Jack Nicklaus trophy and the girls competing for the Patty Berg trophy.
"Everything is going great," Barry Howard, the country club's general manager and a member of the PGA's board of directors, said Tuesday. "Our volunteers have been top-notch. Without them, we could not run this tournament. They have stepped up. Our membership, people from all over Hot Springs, Hot Springs Village and a friend of mine from Texarkana came up. It is just incredible."
THURSDAY
GORDON CLIMBS LEADERBOARD AT JUNIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lakeside's Will Gordon catapulted 34 spots up the leaderboard after an outstanding second round in the Junior PGA Championships Wednesday at Hot Springs Country Club.
Gordon ended the first day at even par on the Arlington course, finishing tied for 37th after 18 holes.
Despite the intense heat and not shooting as well as he would have liked on day one, Gordon dominated on the Park course on day two to finish the round with a 6-under 65.
FRIDAY
GORDON MAKES FINAL CUT AT JUNIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIPS
A day after he climbed the leaderboard, Lakeside's Will Gordon fell 16 spots in the third round of the Junior PGA Championships Thursday at Hot Springs Country Club.
Gordon started the round in third place after his 6-under par performance on the Park course Wednesday, but the Arlington course back nine made it tough on the rising junior in round three.
After sitting at even for the day through the front nine and then birdying the 10th hole, Gordon made two double bogeys and three bogeys before finishing up with a birdie on 18 to bring his three-round score to 1-under.
RAZORBACK ANNOUNCER EXPECTS MORE SUCCESS FROM HOG BASEBALL
Phil Elson is a co-host with Matt Jones for ESPN Radio's "Halftime," and they were live July 28 at Armor Bank in Hot Springs while KJ Jefferson did a meet and greet as part of a name, image and likeness deal.
"I love Matt," Elson said. "He is easygoing as it gets, and we have a good thing. He has got a good sense of humor. He knows his Razorback sports. Our specialties kind of mold well together and our personalities mesh well together. He does not have any ego. He's self-deprecating. He wants to be good at what he is doing, and it is a lot of fun."
The talk of the day was about the two running quarterbacks, Jefferson and Jones, in a foot race.
SATURDAY
GORDON LEARNS FROM MENTAL BATTLE AT JPGA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Although the tournament didn't quite end how he wanted, Lakeside's Will Gordon built important experience against the best junior golfers in the world during the four rounds of the Junior PGA Championships at Hot Springs Country Club.
The Hot Springs native ended the fourth and final round Friday tied for 24th place, tallying a 2-over-par 286 across the four days of competition. Gordon's best day came on the Park course in the second round when he shot a 6-under 65.
The rising junior started the final round on the back nine and finished on the front nine of the Arlington course, finishing the fourth round with a 3-over 74.
SUNDAY
MAJESTIC PARK
FLOURISHES WITH FALL BALL, HECTIC SCHEDULE
Just because summer is coming to an end does not mean baseball has to, and Majestic Park will stay busy hosting its fall baseball leagues and tournaments.
"We have some guys who bring these tournaments in," General Manager Derek Phillips said. "We host them here and we foster those events. We try to do a really good job. We have a big event and we just move right to the next one. We just work with so many different tournament directors for high school, American Legion or colleges.
"We are trying to expand our reach for those schools that come here and play. It is our job to run the park and reach out to these organizations and expand on these tournaments."
CEDAR GLADES DISC GOLF GROWS IN POPULARITY, PROVIDES LOW COST FUN
Easy to pick up sports like pickleball have shown they can thrive in Garland County, and now another low cost, easy to start sport is gaining popularity in the area.
If potential players want to play disc golf, all they need is at least one disc and a course to play on. Luckily, most disc golf courses are free, and Cedar Glades Park boasts an 18-hole course just a few minutes from downtown.
"The popularity, it's huge and growing," Cedar Glades Park Coordinator AJ Johnson said. "It's grown over the years. I've been here probably 13 years and I've watched it grow and expand from just locals to a ton of out of staters."
G1 WHITNEY PRODUCES HUGE UPSET
Fifty years after Onion beat Secretariat in the same race, the Whitney Stakes produced another stunning outcome Saturday.
White Abarrio, scratched three times since last winning, broke sharply and finished stronger in the $1 million Grade 1 race at Saratoga. Zandon, Blue Grass winner and Kentucky Derby show horse last year, ran second while champion Cody's Wish, the reigning Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile champion for Bill Mott, ran third at 2-5 odds. A two-time Grade 1 winner in his 5-year-old season, Cody's Wish topped the recent NTRA Top Thoroughbred poll.
Irad Ortiz Jr. rode White Abarrio for trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., who in January had a 10-year New York State Gaming Commission suspension lifted. His best horses include 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam and 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown.