Frank Fletcher is not afraid of a challenge.
Fletcher, a successful businessman, has a 2-year old filly, Frank's Rockette, who won her maiden race at Churchill Downs in June by almost 9 lengths and is jumping up to the Grade II Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga Race Course this Sunday.
The race was so impressive at Churchill that it wouldn't be a surprise if she goes off as the favorite in the race for 2-year old fillies.
Fletcher includes the name Rocket in all of his horses in honor of his pet dog.
He bred this filly by his horse Rocket Twentyone to Into Mischief, so Frank's Rockette has strong breeding and was pulling away from the field in her first race, showing that getting the mile may not be a problem either.
Frank's rocket is trained by veteran Bill Mott, whose horses have won more than $280 million and was ridden in her first race by Julien Leparoux, winner of more than 2,600 races in more than 14,000 races.
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Frank Ragnow, former University of Arkansas offensive lineman, is starting his second season with the Detroit Lions and has been moved from guard to center.
When Ragnow played for the Razorbacks he was asked to play several positions, and that was one of the reasons Lions head coach Matt Patricia liked him enough to draft him in the first round.
Last season, he started 16 games as a rookie for Detroit and gladly made the switch to center.
Ragnow was the 20th overall pick and the No. 1 rated center in the 2018 NFL Draft.
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A couple of weeks ago in our "This Date in Baseball" feature it noted that Pat Seerey was the first player in major league history to strike out seven times in a doubleheader.
That feature gives quick hits about that day in baseball, so it did not point out Seerey was raised in Little Rock and grew up playing at Lamar Porter Field for the Doughboys.
Seerey started playing professionally with the Appleton Papermakers of the Wisconsin State League when he was just 18.
He was called up by the Cleveland Indians in 1943 and is one of only 17 players in major league history to hit four home runs in a single game.
Thanks goes to his niece Cindy Seerey Gladish for sharing that information.
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It didn't take long for Zion Williamson to become a multimillionaire.
Williamson who turned 19 last month was the first pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, but it wasn't the New Orleans Pelicans who made him this wealthy.
It was reported in the Sports Business Journal that Williamson turned down more lucrative offers with Puma and two Chinese shoe brands to sign with Nike's Jordan Brand.
His pay to endorse the already popular brand was $75 million.
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Michael Lewellen, who was featured on the cover of the May 12 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette High Profile has left the Portland Trailblazers to become vice president of marketing and communications for the University of Portland.
Lewellen is a native of Jonesboro and graduated from Arkansas State University.
His first job was with the Pine Bluff Commercial as a sports writer, but he didn't stay in the reporting business long.
His resume includes marketing jobs with Nike, NBC Universal and Black Entertainment Television.
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Alabama got sacked earlier this week when linebacker Eyabi Anoma put his name back in the NCAA transfer portal.
The 5-star linebacker recruit put his name in the portal in February but took it out the next day and went through spring practice with the Crimson Tide.
This week it was reported that the sophomore has put his name back in for a transfer, leaving the Tide without a very valuable part of their defense.
Sports on 08/01/2019