High school quarterbacks across Garland County continued to prepare for the fall football season, and Razorback quarterback KJ Jefferson visited town for the first time over the past week.
MONDAY
NEST RULES ROOST
The Grade 2 Shuvee on Sunday at Saratoga Race Course matched strength against strength and, as expected, produced an emphatic winner.
Nest, in her 4-year-old debut, turned back 5-year-old Clairiere, an Oaklawn Grade 1 winner in April, for her third Spa G1 victory. Sweeping the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama last year, Nest was named champion 3-year-old filly despite not winning either the Kentucky Oaks (Secret Oath) or Breeders' Cup Distaff (stable Malathaat), both G1.
Trainer Todd Pletcher saved Curlin's daughter for Saratoga while Clairiere scored Grade 1 victories in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn and the Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park, the latter for the second year in a row.
TUESDAY
RAMS' HERMOSILLO
BECOMES A TRUE
'LEADER BY EXAMPLE'
Senior quarterback for the Lakeside Rams, Jacob Hermosillo is coming into his last year with two college football offers.
"I am really excited for my senior year," Hermosillo said. "We are all ready to play. We are ready to make a comeback from last year."
Offered by Lyon College and Hendrix College over the summer, Hermosillo and the Rams have high expectations.
WEDNESDAY
MILLS GOES FROM GUNSLINGER TO FIELD COMMANDER IN SECOND YEAR
Junior quarterback Peyton Mills is coming off a monster sophomore season and is ready to lead the Cutter Morning Star Eagles to victory in 2023.
"We have just been working," Mills said. "We have been hitting the weight room, definitely been getting a lot of throws in with the wide receivers, just working on routes."
Cutter Morning Star competed in team camp at Rose Bud.
THURSDAY
WOLVES, HURLEY ADJUST TO NEW PIECES AHEAD OF SEASON
PEARCY -- Senior quarterback Easton Hurley is ready to lead the Lake Hamilton Wolves in his final campaign as leader of the Pack.
"It has been good," Hurley said. "We have learned a lot about our team. We are just grinding every day."
Head coach Tommy Gilleran holds Hurley in high ranks.
FRIDAY
BROUGHTON BRINGS WILL TO WIN TO NPC
After a 9-15 season and an extensive coaching search, National Park Athletic Director Rich Thompson hired new women's basketball coach Eddie Broughton Sr. to lead the Nighthawks.
"This will be my sixth year as a head coach," Broughton said. "I spent five years as a head coach at Western Oklahoma State College. Prior to that I have been everywhere, just back-and-forth."
Broughton brings 17 years of coaching experience to National Park.
SATURDAY
GORDON READY TO COMPETE ON GIANT STAGE
Hot Springs Country Club is set to host one of the biggest events for junior golfers in the world, and a local Lakeside High School golfer will be playing for the title on the boys side.
Will Gordon is no stranger to playing in big golf tournaments, but the Junior PGA Championships are about as big as it gets, and Gordon gets to compete in the event on his home course.
"It's a really big deal to me," he said. "I haven't been able to ever play in those big tournaments like that, so now that I'm getting the opportunity to play in bigger tournaments, especially it being at my home course, it's a big deal because I've got a big advantage over I feel like most of the field. No one knows that course like I do. Playing in tournaments like that is just big."
FORTE ADDS BLINKERS, MEETS 4 IN TRAVERS PREP
Who knows? A prep race for the Travers Stakes might be as noteworthy as the main event.
They give away neither the Grade 1 Midsummer Derby, which is four weeks off, or its Grade 2 forerunner, the Jim Dandy. The latter race, after all, was named for the 100-1 Travers upsetter of 1930 Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox.
Today's running spotlights Forte, the male juvenile champion last year and 7-5 favorite, against three horses trained by Brad Cox and a starter trained by Steve Asmussen. Disarm represents Asmussen, the Hall of Fame trainer with more than 10,000 victories, a North American record he set in February at Oaklawn.
SUNDAY
RAZORBACK QUARTERBACK ENJOYS FIRST VISIT TO SPA CITY
The line was out of the door as an estimated 300 fans waited for their chance to meet Razorback senior quarterback KJ Jefferson in the Spa City Friday for a meet and greet with Armor Bank in Hot Springs.
"I am just building a brand," Jefferson said. "That is the main thing is building your brand and taking a positive influence out of it. (NIL) just gives guys a platform to build that brand on and just have that voice that they did not have at first."
Jefferson appeared as part of his name, image and likeness deal with Armor Bank.
LADY RAM PREPARES FOR JUNIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIPS
After returning to the Lakeside girls golf team last fall and winning both individual and team state titles, Maggie Huett is prepared to play in the Junior PGA Championships at Hot Springs Country Club.
Huett returned to the Lady Rams in the fall of 2022 after a two-year hiatus and led Lakeside to a Class 5A state title while also picking up her second individual crown.
"I only competed in two state tournaments and I won both of those as an individual and as a team," Huett said. "To have this tournament right after my past state it's been good. It's nice to be able to play in this, especially this is my last junior tournament before I go to college. I leave about a week after this tournament coming up. It's really nice to have my last junior tournament at my home course in Hot Springs."