Sports
Trainer points to jockey error as Haaland aims for redemption in 2026 Murray Bridge race
Trainer Lucinda Boyd has cited jockey error as the reason for Haaland’s last-start defeat at Morphettville, a situation she hopes to rectify in the Prestige Equine Veterinary Handicap (2500m) at Murray Bridge this Saturday.
Boyd, who generally avoids criticising riders, took responsibility for her handling of Haaland when the horse finished second at Morphettville on September 12.
Boyd had previously partnered Haaland to consecutive wins at Sandown and Geelong about 12 months ago, marking her first ride back on the stayer after it had competed with other jockeys for four outings.
“This horse really enjoys the firmer surfaces, and we thought he should have probably won last start,” Boyd said.
“It was a bit more of jockey error, than his fault.”
“When a $101 pop whipped around the field, I didn’t want to get sucked into chasing it, but when it did whip around, I probably should have kept my momentum, but it’s easy to sit back and say that now.”
“He’s a tricky horse, as he can get in front and switch off and I was bearing that in mind because I didn’t want that to happen if he was to get past that horse and be in front for too long.”
“I think I probably should have backed him in a little bit more than what I did.”
Haaland has been unable to secure a win since his triumph on Geelong Cup Day last year, however, Boyd maintains the stayer has been performing creditably.
Substantial weights had previously necessitated Boyd’s absence from the saddle, with apprentice riders being engaged.
“I’ve been keen to get back on him,” Boyd commented.
“He had big weights at Swan Hill and at Sandown, and to be fair Holly (Durnan) did a really good job on him (three runs back) and that’s why we kept her on and claimed the second time, but I was pretty keen to get back on him.”
“He’s going well this preparation. He can really sustain a good gallop and now that he’s fit, we can use that to his advantage and over a suitable trip as well.”
Boyd admits that she doesn’t receive the number of rides she desires, noting that she is occupied with her own team of horses and a young family.
“It’s a bit tricky because people don’t enquire for me to ride because I’m not riding all the time,” Boyd revealed.
“If I ride horses at jump-outs, I’ll put my hand up for the race ride, but we’ve got a young family and our own horses in work, and it’s hard juggling everything.”
The decision for Boyd, Haaland, and their team to travel to Murray Bridge on Thursday was a strategic one, mirroring the approach taken before the stayer’s narrow defeat at Morphettville.
“It allows him to settle in,” Boyd explained.
“We did that last time when we went to Morphettville.”
“We think that is a good recipe.”
Fancy a punt on the Prestige Equine Veterinary Handicap? Check out the latest racing odds at betting sites.
Lacy was called a game-time decision earlier in the week with a shoulder injury, but is now not considered likely to play against the Gators
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Ole Miss star running back Kewan Lacy has been downgraded to doubtful on the team’s Friday injury report due to his left shoulder injury.
Lacy injured his shoulder in the Rebels’ emotional victory over Lane Kiffin and LSU last week, but the initial updates out of Oxford were optimistic. An MRI revealed Lacy wouldn’t require surgery and he was initially listed as questionable, with Ole Miss coach Pete Golding indicating he would be a game-time decision for the Rebels’ ranked battle in The Swamp.
However, just under 24 hours from kickoff, Lacy has been downgraded to doubtful on the team’s injury report, and it seems Ole Miss will head into hostile territory without one of its top offensive weapons. Lacy has 39 carries for 191 yards and four touchdowns this season, rushing for 43 yards and a touchdown before being injured against LSU.
How will Ole Miss look without its star running back?
Should Lacy be unable to play, that further shifts the burden onto star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss‘ shoulders to ignite the Rebels on offense.
With Lacy limited to nine carries against LSU, Ole Miss effectively abandoned the run game after his injury. JT Lindsey had four carries for 20 yards in Lacy’s place, and Chambliss threw the ball 48 times in the victory.
It’d be an aggressive game plan to have a similarly lopsided pass-to-run split for an entire game on the road at Florida, but the Gators were shakier in pass defense than rush defense in their shootout win over Auburn last Saturday.
The Gators will expect a heavy dose of the passing attack if Lacy is unable to go, and the Rebels will need to prove they’re willing and able to run the ball without their star back if they are going to draw Florida’s defense up to the line of scrimmage.
When Nathaniel Spencer, who now is 41, was a high-school golfer at the chock-full-o-athletes IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., he talked his way into playing center-back in a scrimmage with the school’s supremely talented soccer team. Among the standouts on the field was Freddy Adu, an attacking midfielder who, at 14, had become the youngest athlete ever to sign a professional contract in the United States when he came to terms with the Major League Soccer team, D.C. United.
Spencer, who had played competetive soccer growing up but only at the local level, said he didn’t know who Adu was; he also didn’t care to know. He wanted only to shut Adu down, and shut him down he did, Spencer said. So suffocating was Spencer’s defense, he said, that the coaches inquired about his interest in joining the team.
“That was a turning point in my life,” Spencer told me the other day. “Do I choose soccer? Do I choose golf? Obviously, I chose golf.”
But it’s not quite that simple, because over the next two-plus decades, Spencer also chased many other pursuits, including but not limited to professional rock climbing, pro disc golf, motorcycle riding (he’s owned five of them), high-level table tennis, all-night Texas Hold ’Em, intensive gym training, the Air Force and making history as a contestant on the hit show, “American Ninja Warrior.” Oh, and did we mention Spencer also quit golf — for 15 years?
Today, Spencer has returned to the game, and in a big way. In 2023, he was named the Kansas Mid-Amateur Player of the Year, and this weekend he will make his first appearance in a United States Golf Association championship: the U.S. Mid-Amateur, which kicks off Saturday at Sand Valley, a sprawling golf resort in central Wisconsin about a nine-hour drive north of Spencer’s Lawrence, Kansas, home.
It’s not unusual for U.S. Mid-Am competitors to take long and winding roads to their first Mid-Am start; in fact, that’s one of the charms of the event. But you’d need to go deep down the tee sheet in this year’s field — or maybe any Mid-Am field — to find a player who took a more circuitous, adventurous or improbable route than Nathaniel Spencer, whose resume reads less middle-aged golfer than Marvel action hero.
;)
courtesy nathaniel spencer
***
SPENCER GREW UP IN the same town in which he now lives. As a toddler, he would follow his father, Daniel, then a University of Kansas professor, to a local park where Daniel hit golf balls. Soon enough, young Nathaniel was doing the same. That led to range visits, and at age 7, by which time his family had joined Lawrence Country Club, on-course rounds. Nathaniel mostly was self-taught but he improved quickly and soon began playing in local junior events. By his early teens — when he wasn’t blowing fastballs past batters as a standout pitcher — he was playing golf at the national level, in American Junior Golf Association tournaments, which raised his profile and led to his admission to IMG.
A few weeks later, Spencer went to Texas for qualifying, one of about 4,000 hopefuls nationwide seeking one of the 100 finalist spots. He advanced though the first of two rounds and then in the second round announced himself as a legitimate contender when he became the first entrant to finish the course in the allotted time. He was moving on.
With a month between qualifying and the finals, Spencer settled in Houston to train with some of his fellow contestants. “Wiithin like a week of doing it, they were like, ‘Dude, you’re really strong. You just really need to get your finger strength for some of these obstacles that you’re going to go through. You should go head next door.”
Next door, as in the rock-climbing gym. Spencer had long wanted to try rock climbing, and he and his 140-pound frame took to it like a mountain goat to a cliff, progressing at a pace that, as he described it, no one at the facility had ever seen before. “I fell in love with it and I was like all in,” Spencer said. “I was like, okay, maybe this is my purpose.”
But first he had a TV show to try and win. In the first stage of the “American Ninja Warrior” Season 4 finals, which was held on a splashy outdoor set in Las Vegas, 25 of the 100 finalists attempted the course before Spencer — and all 25 failed. Then it was Spencer’s turn: 130 seconds to complete a series of daunting obstacles with names like the Step Slider, the Rolling Log and the Jumping Spider. Reality shows like to fit their contestants into archetypes (i.e., Marketing Specialist, Software Engineer, etc.); Spencer was “Former Pro Golfer.” As he made his way around the course, one of the announcers said, “He’s got great touch — just like a golfer.”
;)
American Ninja Warrior
When Spencer hit the final obstacle, a rope wall, he had 16 seconds left to scale it, clamber onto a platform and cross the finish line. It was going to be tight, and it was. Spencer completed the course at the exact instant the clock hit 00:00:00, becoming the first contestant in “American Ninja Warrior” history to do so. Put another way, he had recorded the slowest-ever successful qualifying time in show history.
The producers, Spencer said, were elated that a contestant had finally completed the challenge. So, too, were Spencer’s fellow contestants, he said, “because they were like, ‘Finally, somebody made it. It is possible to make it.’ All the contestants were mobbing me, just congratulating me because they’re like,’Thank you for giving us hope.’”
Spencer didn’t have much time to celebrate. The second stage of qualifying was the next day, but it would not be Spencer’s night. When he was unable to complete the Salmon Ladder — by which competitors use a bar resting on parallel walls to pull themselves up a series of rungs — his “ANW” run was over.
Still, he had developed a new passion by way of his training: scaling walls. Spencer was so enthused by rock climbing that he moved to Texas to hone his skills at what he described as a “hole in the wall” climbing gym. Soon enough, he had a job there. Climbing became his life. Within 10 months, Spencer said, he had advanced to a V11 bouldering level, which is roughly the golf equivalent of a scratch handicap. “Most of the people that get to that level,” Spencer said, “it took them, like, five, six years, even 10 years.” (Spencer also was becoming a bit of a card shark. During this period, he said, he would frequent local casinos and play marathon sessions of Texas Hold ‘Em, once playing consecutively for nearly five days without sleeping.)
Spencer’s athleticism is the stuff of legend among his friends. Curt Wright, who is a 2 handicap and one of Spencer’s golf buddies from Lawrence Country Club, said Spencer is the best putter he’s ever seen — but that his talents extend far beyond taming slippery greens. In 2008, Wright and Spencer spent time together in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, helping to clear out homes after devastating flooding there. On that trip, Wright witnessed Spencer, motivated by a $20 bet, broad jump from the ground into the flatbed of a Ford F-250; that’s about a 40-inch leap. On that same trip, Wright watched in awe as Spencer dangled off stairwells and pulled himself up with one arm. “He was like the Six Million Dollar Man from back in the day,” Wright said. “He’s kind of freaky like that.”
In his Texas days, as Spencer gained confidence in his bouldering ability, he transitioned to outdoor climbing, though without proper training. On a solo expedition to Hueco Tanks State Park in El Paso, he found himself reaching for an unstable handhold. “I just didn’t understand risk, because I always push risk,” he said. The gamble proved costly. Spencer plummeted 35 feet and broke both of his heels. Surgery followed but Spencer bounced back and by the next year was competing internationally in professional climbing events. He also made acer run at qualifying for another season of “American Ninja Warrior” but that quest ended badly when he re-broke one of his heels. The injury resulted in more surgery, two titanium screws in his heel and the end of his “ANW” dreams.
;)
courtesy nathaniel spencer
***
SPENCER WAS 27 by this point and coming to the same realization about rock-climbing that he had had about golf: It was a hard way to make a living. Through climbing he had made yet more military contacts who convinced him that his physical skills were well suited for a special warfare post. This time around, the timing felt right for Spencer. He entered Air Force training. “I was progressing pretty well,” he said. “I was selected to go to a certain base for top performers.”
But then came another injury, Spencer said, and a physical that turned up a heart issue. Spencer’s supervisors required him to take a break from training, and it soon became clear to him that a special-ops post was out of reach.
Still, Spencer served in the Air Force for four years. The experience, he said, wasn’t what he expected it to be, but he did, on occasion, find golf to be beneficial, because when word got out that he had played professionally, high-ranking officers wanted to play with him. The game provided him entrée. Ultimately, though, Spencer decided a military life wasn’t for him, and in 2020, he said, he was honorably discharged. (The military does not comment on individual discharge cases.)
Spencer was 31 and with more winding roadway still ahead of him.
;)
courtesy nathaniel spencer
***
AT YET ANOTHER crossroads, Spencer returned home to Lawrence to live with his parents. He was still fighting health issues, he said, including debilitating fatigue.
“I would just go for a run, like one mile, or I’d walking up a hill, and my body was not able to recover,” Spencer said. “It would take me anywhere from two to three or four days to recover. It was a little bit scary.” Spencer thought he might have Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever or a food allergy, but a diagnosis eluded doctors. “They did a bunch of tests, and they’re like, ‘We don’t know what this is,’” Spencer said. Eventually, he learned it was a severe acute respiratory syndrome called the Coronavirus. Spencer believes he caught it in the Air Force well before Covid-19 became a household term in the U.S.
“It took two and half years for me to get over it,” he said. “I was not bedridden, but I was almost house-ridden. I wasn’t able to do very much, and I was just constantly tired.”
Finally, mercifully, he began to feel better. He wasn’t ready to get back into the gym but he was craving low-impact physical activity. One sport, in particular, offered exactly what Spencer was seeking: golf. Spencer returned to the game that he had abandoned. Just as valuable as the exercise that the game provided was time outdoors to clear his head. Shot by shot, he started to rediscover his love — and aptitude — for the game.
He regained his amateur status and quickly shot up the Kansas amateur ranks. By the end of the 2023 season, he was named the state’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year.
Spencer’s competitiveness had returned and, with it, a belief that he could make another run at the pro game.
“It got me focused on a goal, and to kind of get out of what I was going through,” he said.
He found a sponsor and returned to the All Pro Tour, where most events pay out about $20,000 to the winners but require hefty entry fees. Then, Spencer said, his backer bailed on him, just as had happened in his early pro days. He also began experiencing what he described as uncontrollable physical changes, which included putting on 20 pounds “out of nowhere.” He said he lost feel in his game, in his swing. He missed 14 consecutive cuts on the APT.
Terence Crawford officially called time on his career in December 2025, walking away from boxing at 38 with an unblemished record.
Despite consistently saying he will not return, he has now been mentioned as a replacement for the year’s biggest main event.
Crawford’s retirement came three months after his career-defining victory over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Las Vegas, where the Nebraska southpaw jumped up two weight divisions to claim the undisputed super-middleweight crown.
In doing so, Crawford became the first male fighter in the four-belt era to achieve undisputed status across three weight classes.
Naturally, the five-weight world champion has been repeatedly linked with high-profile comebacks.
Boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh has expressed interest in both a rematch with Canelo as well as a grudge match with WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia, who has done his best to goad Crawford into a fight.
Despite ‘Bud’ previously shutting this down, Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger has now reported that Crawford-Garcia could replace the long-awaited Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight in December.
“Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua could be called off due to issues, according to sources, and a replacement fight between Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia is being considered.”
Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua could be called off due to issues, according to sources, and a replacement fight between Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia is being considered.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) September 25, 2026
Fury-Joshua was finally announced this week after a decade of brewing rivalry and, more recently, months of dispute over the location of the fight.
It is now booked for December 11 in Cardiff, but the issues behind the scenes appear far from over. In particular, the inclusion of Dana White is a major sticking point, with Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn claiming that their contract prohibits White’s involvement.
When Netflix announced that the American will play a key part in the event, Hearn immediately said that it was an issue that would need to be sorted before further promotion took place.
While many fans would like to see Crawford return for one more fight, the general consensus is that this could be a bluff from the promotion – Ring Magazine – rather than anything concrete. The ‘issues’, and how they might lead to a contracted bout being cancelled, remain unclear.
If one man has what it takes to tempt ‘Bud’ back, it is Alalshikh. That happening in conjunction with the cancellation of the biggest fight in British boxing remains unlikely.
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Caleb Williams has a habit of making us — the NFL world — uncomfortable.
He doesn’t care about optics. He doesn’t waste thought on what the average NFL fan (or GM or coach) might think. He reacts authentically.
He’s sensitive. He feels. He hurts — publicly.
You don’t see that often in the NFL. You don’t see that enough, frankly.
Think back to when he sought out his mother to cry in her arms at USC. Think back to when he used to let his mother paint his nails. Think back to that photoshoot where Williams was sitting in a — how to put this? — vulnerable position.
And, of course, think back to Sunday when he sat on the injury cart and pumped his fist with tears in his eyes.
That’s the incident that’s all over social media.
You can guess by now: I don’t have a problem with it.
And it’s hilarious to watch people crying on social media with criticisms about … another man crying. But it’s no surprise. Hypocrisy isn’t hard to find on X, Instagram or TikTok.
The criticism is getting absurd.
The memes — well, some of them are objectively funny. The silliness is fair, now that we know he could play again in Week 3. This is 2026. Williams isn’t just a public figure — he’s the NFL’s rising superstar, fed to fans all offseason through the media and Madden hype. He has opted into some of that, but not all. (The Bears and Williams, for example, declined a one-on-one interview when I visited camp this summer, in part because the buzz was going too far.) After putting up 59 points in Week 1, the Bears’ matchup against the Vikings was the most anticipated matchup of Week 2.
When he does something objectively theatrical, people will respond with good-natured jokes.
But the genuine pearl-clutching and hand-wringing?
The idea that the injury cart is somehow sacred and reserved only for career-ending injuries?
Get out of here.
Let’s go back to the play where the injury happened for context.
Trying to escape a sack late in the fourth quarter, Williams slid. He held his hamstring and screamed, captured clearly by the broadcast. He banged the turf with his fist in frustration. The team got out the cart, and — this part you’ve surely seen — he covered his face with a towel, eventually pulling it away to show his red, watery eyes. He pumped the air, like he was Kobe Bryant after tearing his Achilles.
This is high drama worthy of reality television.
But folks, I hate to break it to you. The NFL is reality television.
The NFL is all about its drama. It’s no mystery why Madden wanted to put Williams on its cover. He’s fascinating on and off the field. He’s a great football player. But he’s also unique. And it’s this sensitivity that — I think — makes him different than the average NFL player, coach or fan.
I can see why Williams was upset. It’s not all that different than the last time we saw him publicly crying after that big loss at USC. It was the sheer disappointment of a missed opportunity. He was on the 6-yard line — just a handful of yards away from a go-ahead touchdown. In an ugly game. Against a division rival. If he and the Bears had scored, no one would have cared that the Vikings won the X’s and O’s and stymied what was supposed to be a historic Bears offense. That’s a tough thing for an injury to take away.
Caleb Williams has worn his emotions on his sleeve dating back to his college days. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
We also have no idea what that injury might have felt like — the level of pain. But I’m sure everyone can relate to a disappointment of this magnitude. The season looked so promising, even in that ugly game. For the rest of the fourth quarter, it looked like Williams’ season might be in jeopardy. Williams had to reconcile with his game — and his season — ending in major disappointment.
Then we got the first sign of good news.
“I’m actually happy it’s nothing with the knee. That was my first inclination,” coach Ben Johnson said during a postgame press conference. “But yeah, the hamstring could be pretty damaging as well. So, we’ll see how bad it is tomorrow and we’ll go from there. … We need the points desperately at that point. It’s a shame.”
Now here’s a criticism that I’ll buy: Williams’ theatrics distracted the team’s focus at the game’s most crucial moments.
“Everybody wants to keep morale up,” Bears defensive lineman Grady Jarrett told reporters after the game. “Because Caleb is the guy here, and so nobody wants to see him go down. Definitely have got to rally up, do more. We’ve got to finish the game at the end of the day.”
Caleb Williams didn’t have an impressive performance against the Vikings, but the team’s issues run beyond him. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
It’s a bit hypothetical for my taste to wonder if the Bears would’ve won if Williams hadn’t taken the cart, hadn’t pumped his fist and didn’t have tears in his eyes?
If the answer is yes, then the Bears have to examine their team-wide focus before examining Williams’, because one man’s tears should not leave the other 47 players without resolve.
Football is a sport where toughness is — quite literally — on a player’s scouting report. Obviously, this series of events left us questioning Williams’ toughness. But bigger than that, if Williams is a superstar and he isn’t “tough,” can he be successful in the NFL?
The way I see it: The tears don’t matter. The hamstring injury does.
If there was a way for Williams to play through the injury, then there’s a problem there, because his departure worsened their chances. If there was no way for Williams to get back on the field, then what are we arguing about? The manner that he left the field?
Again, get out of here.
Let’s all take this opportunity to take a deep breath and try to get comfortable with seeing a grown man cry. From my vantage, that’s what this is about. People don’t like seeing their quarterback cry. I’m not one of them. I’m all for it.
The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers each lost on Friday so the AL West remains tied, although Houston owns the tiebreaker.
What can happen in final two games:
AL West standings
Houston Astros: 79-81
Texas Rangers: 79-81
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Houston Astros schedule
Saturday: at Athletics
Sunday: at Athletics
Texas Rangers schedule
Saturday: at Minnesota
Sunday: at Minnesota
How Astros can win AL West
Houston is AL West champion no matter what Rangers do.
If Astros go 1-1: Rangers must win two games to win West.
If Astros go 0-2: Rangers must win two games to win West.
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This article originally published at Houston Astros playoff scenarios: Where things stand with 2 games left in regular season.
Stephen Curry has agreed to a contract extension with the Golden State Warriors, the team announced. The deal is worth $116 million over two years, according to ESPN. It’s structured similarly to the extension Kawhi Leonard just signed with the Toronto Raptors as it includes a player option for the 2028-29 season.
“We couldn’t be more excited about reaching an agreement with Stephen and extending his historic career with the Warriors,” Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said. “Personally, I don’t think there has ever been a better face to a franchise in professional sports history, both on and off the court, than Stephen Curry with the Warriors. He embodies everything this organization strives to represent through his legendary play on the court, his unique leadership and sacrifice, and his unmatched impact in the community. We’ve been incredibly blessed to experience 17 years of Stephen’s artistry and are thrilled that our fans will continue to have the opportunity to watch him perform and write additional chapters to his illustrious story.”
This contract takes Curry, 38, to roughly $650 million in guaranteed career earnings in the NBA, according to Spotrac. For now, that would make him the highest-paid player in league history. The irony of that distinction is that Golden State’s dynasty was built with Curry playing under his rookie extension, perhaps the single most team-friendly contract in NBA history. Because of early-career ankle issues, Curry was only able to sign a four-year, $44 million deal after his third season. During that contract, he won two MVPs and two championships, and his deal helped Golden State afford Kevin Durant as a free agent in 2016.
While this contract is obviously far more lucrative than that one was, it still represents a discount from what Curry could have made. With a projected $176 million salary cap for the 2026-27 season, most players with 10 or more years of experience (like Curry) would be eligible for a deal starting at 35% of the cap. That would pay $128 million over two years.
However, an individual player’s max salary is never less than 105% of his previous salary. As Curry is already the highest-paid player in the NBA at $62.6 million for the 2026-27 season, he would have been eligible to start a new contract above the 35% max and ultimately earn close to $137 million in total over two years had he sought the most money possible. Instead, he took more than $20 million below his max as the Warriors attempt to put one last championship contender around him in the twilight of his career.
Curry, in a recent ESPN interview, indicated he was considering the Warriors’ financial flexibility in his contract negotiations.
“We’re in a very interesting situation,” Curry said. “All the different salary cap conditions of whether I sign for a max or less or whatever it is, I want to be on a competitive team. I want to have an opportunity to have some flexibility because we haven’t had that in years past, the recent past. … This team should have flexibility to make necessary moves if things happen. Those are always just the considerations. For me, information and patience is key. It’s just a very unique situation all the way around based on where we’ve been the last four years, where I’m at in my career, what our team looks like this year and the absolute desperation to win. Trying to balance all that.”
Curry is entering his 18th NBA season, all with the Warriors. Since winning their last championship in 2022, the Warriors have made the playoffs just twice in the last four years and haven’t returned to the Western Conference Finals. With Curry’s future now settled, the Warriors can focus on rebuilding the roster around him.
What this deal means for the Warriors
Before Curry’s extension, there were scenarios in which Golden State could have entered next offseason with over $100 million in cap space. The appeal in possibly delaying Curry’s extension would have been the flexibility to structure his ultimate deal around whatever other moves the team needed to make next summer. Now, with Curry settled, the Warriors are currently looking at around $72 million in cap space before accounting for their first-round pick or keeping their own free agents or partially guaranteed contracts, according to Cap Sheets.
In theory, the Warriors could use that space to sign a star free agent in 2027. Nikola Jokic headlines a prominent group of stars in their 30s with player options for the 2027-28 season that also includes Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, though Jokić and Towns are widely expected to re-sign with their current teams. The same holds true for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is technically able to become a free agent in 2027 through a player option, but has already moved to the team he sought in the Miami Heat and is currently waiting out the NBA’s six-month extend-and-trade restrictions. The class won’t be quite as star-studded in reality as it looks on paper, but there will inevitably be talent available.
Based on the projected $176 million salary cap, the 35% max for the 2027-28 season will be $61.6 million, meaning Golden State, for now, has the ability to sign any 2027 free agent it wants. However, there are other factors to consider here. Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Brandin Podziemski are all slated for 2027 free agency, and if the Warriors want to keep any of them, they will have to account for their money. The same goes for Kristaps Porziņģis, who has a $20 million player option with only $3 million guaranteed. They’ll also have a first-round pick in the 2027 NBA Draft that, in this post-lottery-reform world, could be quite high. Such a pick wouldn’t be cheap.
In other words, Golden State could drastically remake its roster in the summer of 2027. It could also make subtler changes if it intends to bring some or all of those players back and make a high draft pick. Curry’s cap figure will come in at $55.7 million for the 2027-28 season, according to ESPN. In terms of quality of play when on the floor, Curry still warrants such a salary. The key here will be health. Curry missed almost half of last season, largely dealing with a runner’s knee. If that persists and he can’t stay on the floor, any hope of the Warriors returning to contention vanishes.
We’ll have to see how the 2026-27 season plays out before saying anything definitively. At this moment, the Warriors are expected to compete for a Play-In berth. What happens this season will determine not only how eager the Warriors are to keep their own free agents, but how attractive they are to external ones. The only certainty was that one way or another, Curry would be re-signed. His contract has now been settled, and the Warriors can move on to planning for the final years of his career.
Trainer Joe Pride is keen for Private Eye to be positioned forward in the Shannon Stakes, suggesting the experienced gelding is the horse to beat if granted that tactical advantage.
Following a strong return with a second placing in the Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield, where he raced handy, the gelding dropped back from a wide gate in the Tramway Stakes and was unable to feature.
However, Pride is anticipating a different scenario from barrier three in Saturday’s 1500-metre Rosehill race.
“It has been a long time since he’s raced well from off the pace, and this is a horse who came from nearly last to win an Epsom and from dead-last to win a Queensland Guineas,” Pride said.
“He was a different horse in the early part of his life. Now he’s a bit of a flat track bully and likes to get on-speed with no horses in front of him.
“I think he’ll get the right scenario there on Saturday.”
Private Eye’s three most recent victories, all achieved while carrying substantial weights, saw him racing prominently. These included last year’s Moonga and Lawrence Stakes, both over 1400m at Caulfield, and the 2024 Festival Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill over the same distance as Saturday’s event.
If he can secure a similar tactical position, Pride predicts he will be very difficult to run down, particularly when carrying just two kilograms more than the favourite, Skyhook.
“I was giggling to myself thinking if the real Private Eye turns up, some of these horses won’t see which way he goes,” Pride said.
“I could point to three or four runs from his last ten, maybe more, that would win this race.
“I think it’s just a matter of him jumping, putting himself in a good spot, and he’ll take care of the rest.”
Stablemate Estadio Mestalla will also participate in the Shannon Stakes (1500m) and faces pressure to improve on his unplaced first-up run behind Skyhook.
At eight years old, he is one year younger than Private Eye. While he doesn’t possess the same level of class as his stablemate, he has provided his connections with a successful career, earning over $1.7 million in prize money.
“I wouldn’t write him off. He’s a tough horse,” Pride stated. “He doesn’t win that often, but he runs so many seconds in good races. He’s never far away and I don’t think he’ll be far away on Saturday.”
Check out the latest online bookmakers for your bets on the Shannon Stakes.
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European MMA promotion Oktagon has pledged to host one massive stadium show per year before staging a fight card in front of nearly 60,000 fans this weekend, pushing the boundaries of what regional companies can achieve in the sport.
Oktagon set the all-time attendance record for an MMA event outside of Japan in October 2024 when it hosted 59,148 fans at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt – a feat that surpassed the largest attendance ever recorded by the UFC.
The promotion returns to the home of Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt two years on to mark its 10-year anniversary at Oktagon 94, putting on a stacked event headlined by a heated clash between hometown hero Christian Eckerlin and former champion David Kozma.
Ahead of the spectacle, the company announced its new Oktagon Infinity events, confirming these type of showpiece fight cards will become yearly. Düsseldorf’s 50,000 capacity Merkur Spiel-Arena will host the first Oktagon Infinity show in May 2027.
“The demand is growing here in Germany,” co-founder Pavel Neruda told The Independent. “That’s what we want to use.
“We have this amazing deal with RTL [major German broadcaster] which supports our efforts, and we bring them a lot of fans.
“It’s the perfect environment so people really now are on this wave of MMA, of Oktagon, and I think that this [Oktagon Infinity] is the result.
“Even announcing another stadium next year, you can clearly see that we feel that this is the right time to do such an ambitious project.”
Neruda also hinted at a future event at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, which hosted the 2025 Champions League final.
“It can happen, yes,” he added. “I mean, it’s not something what we have on our plans for next year, but it can happen, definitely.”
For now the focus is on Frankfurt and Oktagon 94, which also pits “The Neanderthal” Frederic Vosgrone – who went viral for his unrelenting fight style and likeness to Paddy Pimblett – against Czech legend Karlos Vemola, with former UFC fighter and two-weight Oktagon champion Vémola coming out of retirement at 42 to give Vosgrone the biggest test of his career so far.
British fighter Marc Diakiese, an eight-year veteran in the UFC until 2024, meanwhile makes his promotional debut in a matchup built on bad blood with 22-year-old prospect Fedor Duric, with both men trading barbs in a tense press conference on Friday after an earlier face-off altercation.
With an emphasis on making their fight cards as entertaining for the fan as possible, Oktagon will also put on a half-time show fronted by multi-diamond and platinum DJ Robin Schulz.
The sizeable stage for this musical showpiece meant Oktagon couldn’t break the attendance record they set in 2024, but Neruda says he was happy to sacrifice a bit of history for the sake of the spectacle.
“To cross the record by a few hundred [people] would not be that big a deal,” he said.
“But to bring Robin Schulz on the huge stage and make a great show for fans is more important for us, and I think this is an even better message to the world. I’m 100 percent sure that this is the better option for everyone.”
Lirim Hajrullahu booted a 36-yard field goal with 27 seconds remaining to lift the Toronto Argonauts to a 30-28 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday that extended their win streak to four games.
Argos quarterback Chad Kelly upheld his reputation as a gunslinger when he threw touchdown passes of 56 yards to Tyler Kahmann and 84 yards to Damonte Coxie.
Kelly completed 22 of 31 pass attempts for 290 yards with the two TDs and two interceptions to boost the Argonauts’ record to 9-6.
Toronto receiver Janarion Grant ran a missed Sergio Castillo field-goal attempt 128 yards for a touchdown.
The Bombers looked like they were going to hold on for the win when backup quarterback Bryce Perkins turned a third-down, one-yard push into a 76-yard touchdown run at 8:50 of the fourth quarter that put the home side up 28-24.
Kelly then used a 38-yard pass to Coxie and a Winnipeg pass-interference penalty to march the Argonauts down the field, but settled for a 34-yard field goal from Hajrullahu to squeeze the score 28-27 with 2:38 remaining.
When Toronto got the ball back, Grant took Winnipeg’s punt and threw a lateral to Dave Ungerer, who gained 32 yards. Toronto got the ball back and marched down the field enough for the winning field goal.
Coxie led all receivers with seven catches for 149 yards.
Dru Brown, making his fifth start of the season in place of injured Zach Collaros, was 16-of-28 passing for 193 yards with two touchdown passes and two picks. He also ran in a six-yard TD.
Winnipeg dropped to 7-7 in front of a sold-out crowd at Princess Auto Stadium.
Aside from Brown’s touchdown run, Tim White and Dorian Singer had TD catches for Winnipeg.
Castillo made three converts, but missed field-goal attempts from 45 and 55 yards.
The 45-yard wide kick was costly, as Grant took the ball in for the score four minutes into the first quarter.
Grant’s TD return was the fourth-longest missed field-goal return in CFL history. The longest was 130 yards by Ken Hinton with the B.C. Lions in 1977. Two players had 129-yard TD returns, including Tristan Jackson with Saskatchewan in 2012 and Bomber Trey Vaval in July this year.
Hajrullahu went wide on a 52-yard field-goal try, made a pair from 19 and 34 yards and was good on three converts.
Winnipeg led 14-7 after the first quarter, 21-14 at halftime and it was tied 21-21 heading into the fourth quarter.
Castillo’s miss on the game’s opening drive ended his stretch of 26 consecutive field goals.
Winnipeg responded on its next possession with a four-play, 69-yard drive capped by White’s 22-yard TD catch.
The drive was aided by a 25-yard run from Brady Oliveira, who finished with 79 yards rushing in the first quarter and 139 yards on 18 carries for the game.
Kelly’s penchant for the long pass went awry early in the second, when the ball bounced off the hands of intended receiver Kevin Mital and into the gloves of Bombers defensive back Deatrick Nichols. It was Kelly’s 23rd interception of the season.
The turnover led to Singer’s 17-yard TD catch at 5:36, but Kelly wasn’t daunted.
He returned to the field and tossed a 56-yard TD bomb to Kahmann to make it 21-14. Hajrullahu went wide on the 52-yarder with a minute left in the first half.
After being sacked to open the second half, Kelly heaved a long pass to Coxie, whose catch-and-run went 84 yards for the TD and tied the game after Hajrullah’s convert.
Interceptions made fans’ heads turn early in the third. First, Brown was picked off by Alex Teubner, then a Kelly pass was grabbed by Vaval in the end zone. A Winnipeg unnecessary roughness penalty wiped that out, but Toronto’s reprieve was short lived when Evan Holm intercepted Kelly in the end zone.
The Argos went ahead for the first time in the game with Hajrullahu’s 19-yarder 3:12 into the fourth that made it 24-21.
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