Archive for the ‘oaklawn park’ Category

PRESS RELEASE

Once again bucking national economic trends, Oaklawn Park announced across-the-board purse increases of approximately $10,000 per day for the second half of its 54-day racing season.
 
The increase of $500 in all claiming races and $2,000 in all allowance and maiden special weight races – approximately five percent - goes into effect with the races of Thursday, March 4.
 
Oaklawn kicked off its 2010 season offering the highest purse structure in its 106-year history, featuring maiden special weight races at $36,000 and no purses lower than $15,000. This purse increase will take Oaklawn purses to yet another record level – maiden special weight races of $38,000 and no purse less than $15,500.
 
“We have had wonderful cooperation from our horsemen.” Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said. “When we have been fortunate with the weather, our fans have responded by being very supportive of our racing product. We are now getting into the time of our season where the weather is typically beautiful, so we’re very happy to be able to reward our horsemen at this time.”
 
The purse increase can also be attributed to the popularity of Oaklawn’s newly expanded Instant Racing and Gaming Center, which opened in May of last year and underwent an expansion the week prior to opening day of the 2010 Live Season.
 
“The excitement since the announcement of the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational has also kept Oaklawn in the minds of racing fans,” Pope said of the April 9 event designed to lure champions Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. “We have certainly benefited from the publicity and positive vibes generated by that event.”

Today, the Paulick Report received a puzzling email from PETA claiming that the upcoming Apple Blossom featuring Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta would be a ‘grueling match race’. They went on to compare the April 9th race to the infamous breakdowns of Ruffian and Go For Wand.

It appears that someone needs a dictionary or at least a cursory knowledge of what a match race actually is. Of course, the Apple Blossom will have a much larger field than the two super fillies and not once was the idea of a match race even discussed. It makes one think of the Happy Days episode when The Fonz jumped a shark, causing the hit show to lose credibility overnight. On second thought, that’s implying that PETA had any credibility to lose.

- Bradford Cummings

This morning, PETA fired off letters to Jerry Moss and Jess Jackson imploring them not to enter their fillies—Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, respectively—in what is essentially a grueling "match race" scheduled for April 9 during the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. In the letters, PETA points out that in an industry that causes the deaths of more than 1,000 thoroughbreds on the tracks every year, match races and other extreme duels have proved to be particularly deadly for famous fillies, including Ruffian and Go For Wand, who were both fatally injured on the track.

"Forcing horses to race to the point at which their bodies can’t handle the stress is cruel enough, but pitting Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra against each other in a race that could easily claim one—or even both—of their lives takes that cruelty to new heights," says PETA Vice President Kathy Guillermo. "These two fillies have bestowed enough fame and prestige on their owners to last a lifetime, and their ‘reward’ shouldn’t be to have to run the toughest race of their lives."

PETA’s letter to Jerry Moss follows. PETA’s similar letter to Jess Jackson is available upon request.

Dear Mr. Moss,

I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our 2 million members and supporters to urge you not to enter Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Invitational. This race is being touted as a duel between Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. History shows that these types of match races are dangerous to fillies. As I’m sure you remember, Ruffian suffered a catastrophic breakdown in her match race with Foolish Pleasure and was euthanized. Go For Wand, in a race that was essentially a match race with Hall of Fame filly Bayakoa, fractured her leg at the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The tragic deaths of these great fillies in front of national audiences sent shockwaves throughout the industry and the country.

Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra have already secured their places in racing history as champion fillies. They have nothing to prove. Pitting these competitive fillies against each other would be risking their lives just for spectacle. Why jeopardize their safety by forcing them into the toughest race of their careers, pushing them to their limits and beyond? And the risks are compounded by the fact that the race is scheduled in April—too early in the season to subject these fillies to such intense physical demands.

More than 1,000 thoroughbred horses break down and are subsequently euthanized on tracks in the U.S. every year. May I have your assurance that you won’t risk adding Zenyatta to this statistic?

Sincerely,

Kathy Guillermo
Vice President

PRESS RELEASE

Following conversations with Jess Jackson and Jerry Moss, the Grade I $5,000,000 Apple Blossom Invitational is back on, Oaklawn President Charles J. Cella announced Thursday. The race, which was increased to a total purse of $5,000,000 provided both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta start, will now be held Friday, April 9, the day before the Grade I $1,000,000 Arkansas Derby, Oaklawn’s traditional closing day.
 
“The most important day in Arkansas sports history has now become the most important two days in Arkansas sports history,” Cella said. “This is truly a race for the ages.”
 
Cella reported that he began discussions Wednesday night with both Jackson and Zenyatta owner Jerry Moss, immediately upon hearing that the original date of April 3 was not feasible, and that those discussions continued Thursday morning.
 
“I understand the concerns of all competitors in needing a prep race and properly preparing for a race of this magnitude, especially in light of the weather we’ve been experiencing recently around the country,” Cella said. “Both parties want this to happen when their champions are at their absolute peak. This date makes that possible.”

UPDATES

Statement by Jess Jackson on Apple Blossom Invitational

“We are delighted that the race is on for April 9 and want to
especially thank Charles Cella and Oaklawn for moving the date.”

Statement by Jerry Moss on Apple Blossom Invitational

"Charlie Cella is a great guy and worked very hard to make this race happen and we are thrilled that it is going to work out. We were planning to go, we wanted to support him and are really pleased to have a chance to run over a good racetrack."

By Ray Paulick
He is a combination of P.T. Barnum, Perle Mesta and Frank Sinatra—an innovative promoter, unmatched host and fiercely independent man. He rules over one of the last family-owned racetracks on the American landscape. He is Charles Cella, the longtime president of Oaklawn Park, and if anyone is going to lure Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta into the same starting gate, it’s him.

Cella announced plans to increase the purse of the April 3 Apple Blossom to $5 million if the two champions show up. He didn’t need to go out and find a corporate sponsor, didn’t hire a slew of consultants, didn’t seek approval from the bean counters or a board of directors.

He did it his way.

That’s how Cella has been running Oaklawn Park since taking over the Hot Springs, Ark., racetrack upon the death of his father in 1968. There have been hard times and good times. The venerable track, founded in 1905, has taken some lumps, but through perseverance and innovation has managed to survive and even thrive at times. That’s more than we can say about a lot of racetracks these days.

“I think he has been great for the sport,” said longtime Keeneland executive Ted Bassett, one of Cella’s closest friends. “He’s put the best interests of Oaklawn and the sport above his self interests. Always. And he marches to his own drum, regardless of the pressures or the cacophony from the outside.

“He is at heart an impresario. He loves to think and to create events. He is a master at that.”

Long before the Breeders’ Cup championships, Arlington Park’s International Festival of Racing, the Maryland Million, or Keeneland’s Fall Stars Weekend, there was the Racing Festival of the South. Created in 1974, the week-long festival packs a bundle of  top-class stakes races onto the end of the annual winter/spring meeting, culminating with the closing-day Arkansas Derby, which has attracted crowds in excess of 70,000.

For years, racing-starved fans from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and other states in the region swamped Hot Springs. But then competition sprang up with shiny new tracks like Louisiana Downs, Remington Park and Lone Star Park, and later came casino boats in Mississippi and slot parlors in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Oaklawn Park no longer was the only game in town.

Cella and his management team launched the first full-card simulcasting parlor of any track in the country. It wasn’t enough to keep pace. They tried to get a casino at Oaklawn, but realized it was a longshot at best. So, working with Ted Mudge at tote provider AmTote, Oaklawn came up with a pari-mutuel based electronic game called Instant Racing. It’s been the track’s salvation since the first machines were installed 10 years ago.

In 2004, Cella wanted to do something special to recognize Oaklawn Park’s 100th anniversary, and created a $5-million “centennial bonus” for any 3-year-old that managed to sweep the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby. The triple had only been accomplished once before, by Sunny’s Halo, in 1983, but Smarty Jones stepped up and swept the series, and Cella happily handed over $5 million to Smarty’s owners, Pat and Roy Chapman. It was the richest payday in American racing history. A $5-million Apple Blossom would be the richest filly and mare race in history.

“It’s a genius idea,” Bassett said of the Apple Blossom purse boost. “Even if they don’t show, he’s gotten a million dollars worth of publicity.”

I wouldn’t bet against it happening—not yet, even though the statement from Jess Jackson, the owner of Rachel Alexandra, was a bit non-committal and the 2009 Horse of the Year has a lot more training to do to get back into racing shape.

“He has the courage to take the chance,” Bassett said of Cella, “the courage of his convictions. What other racetrack would have the courage, foresight and will to propose this? If they show, he will show.”

And if they show, you can be certain Cella will throw one helluva party to celebrate the event. “He is the male Perle Mesta,” Bassett said, a reference to the legendary Washington, D.C., “hostess with the mostest” from a half-century ago. “He loves to throw a party. He’s a modern P.T. Barnum.”

But Cella is a lot more than Good Time Charlie. In an era of corporate ownership of racetracks, where heads of top management roll over with the frequency of Pick Threes and Daily Doubles, Oaklawn Park has been an island of stability, not unlike the other remaining family-owned  tracks in America: the Carey family’s Hawthorne in Chicago and Stella Thayer’s Tampa Bay Downs in Florida.

“Continuity and stability have been hallmarks of Oaklawn Park,” said Bassett. “They know where they are, they know when they are going to open. He never quakes to outside pressures. Charlie was the lyricist of Sinatra’s ‘doing in my way.’"

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
A potential April 3 matchup at Oaklawn Park between Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and unbeaten, two-time champion Zenyatta may be the best news racing fans have heard in a long time. Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella announced the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap would have its purse bumped from $500,000 to $5 million if both horses run, and the race would be lengthened from 1 1/16 miles to nine furlongs. It would change from a handicap to an invitational if both participated. If either fails to enter, the Apple Blossom would revert back to a $500,000 race.

Left unaddressed in the press release from Oaklawn Park was whether any network television plans for the race have been formulated beyond TVG and HRTV. April 3 is a busy day on the racing and sports calendar.

NBC will be televising two important races for 3-year-olds late that afternoon, the Wood Memorial from Aqueduct and Santa Anita Derby from Santa Anita Park in Southern California. Would NBC try to squeeze the Apple Blossom into the same broadcast, and would Oaklawn Park agree to share such a marquee event with two prep races for the Kentucky Derby?

The NBC deal was done with Churchill Downs, not the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which formerly was responsible for much of the horse racing industry’s television exposure, primarily on the ESPN family of networks. The NTRA, while no longer in the television business and Oaklawn Park no longer a member of the NTRA, have assured the Paulick Report they will aggressively work with all parties to promote this event. According to Keith Chamblin, “The NTRA has and will continue to do everything it possibly can to maximize the promotion and television exposure of a showdown between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.”

Post time for the Apple Blossom could be a tricky decision, too. If the race is run after 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (Arkansas is in the Central time zone), it could go head to head with the first of two Final Four games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament from Indianaapolis, which will be televised on CBS that evening. If it is run between 4:30-5:30 p.m. Eastern, it could butt heads with the Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby.

Needless to say, with the Final Four games scheduled that night, horse racing will have a difficult time getting much coverage in the mainstream press around the country. But if Oaklawn Park can pull it off, it will be a huge day for the Arkansas racetrack, and existing fans of the sport will have got what they wanted.

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Statement by Jess Jackson on Apple Blossom Invitational:

 “As you have heard me say many times before, a number of factors must be considered when deciding where to race a horse — the number one factor being the condition of the horse.  Rachel will tell us when she is ready to start her 2010 campaign and we humans must agree she is in top form. 

My family and I would love to see her run at Oaklawn Park.  If she is in top form and it fits in our schedule, we will be there. Rachel, as you know, likes the track having won twice there last year. ”

By Ray Paulick
With four big Kentucky Derby preps on the card today, I just had to get off the couch and go where the horses are and do a real live blog of those races. The big question was where: Tampa Bay Downs to see if General Quarters is for real; Fair Grounds, where Rick Dutrow will try to work his magic on Patena and pull the upset of Friesan Fire; Santa Anita Park, where my No. 1 horse on the Paulick Derby Index, Pioneerof the Nile, should dominate his foes in the San Felipe; or Oaklawn Park, where Old Fashioned looks like a cinch to win the Rebel Stakes?

I chose Oaklawn Park, in part because I haven’t  been to the Hot Springs racetrack since Arkansas Derby day in 1998, when Victory Gallop upset Favorite Trick. Oaklawn Park is also within relaxing driving distance of Lexington. But the real reason is that I got to thinking about how good the corned beef sandwiches are that are served in the Arkansas Sports Tavern inside the Oaklawn grandstand.

So you can imagine my disappointment when — after getting stuck in traffic on Central Avenue on the way to the track (when’s the last time that happened?) and having to park in a homeowner’s front lawn for $15 because the paid lots were full —  the lines were 50 deep for that corned beef sandwich.

I’m sure traffic, parking and food lines would have been easier at Fair Grounds or Santa Anita (I’ll bet Tampa Bay’s doing big business though), but I’ll take a racetrack full of people anytime.

Check back for more on my day at the Oaklawn races, as well as the fastest reports on the web on the San Felipe, Tampa Bay Derby, Louisiana Derby and Rebel Stakes.
 
5:08 p.m. (Eastern) … Pioneerof the Nile wins the San Felipe after a hard drive through the stretch, holding off Feisty Suances by a length and a quarter and not looking like the top pick on my personal Derby list. It wasn’t pretty, but a win’s a win, and there’s a chance that trainer Bob Baffert didn’t want this lemon to be squeezed too tight for a mid-March prep. ("I don’t use that phrase," said Baffert, who said later that Pioneerof the Nile got to waiting on horses after getting in front and prefers a faster face. "We don’t wear our good shoes until Sunday.")  Jeranimo is third and He’s Really Big fourth in a race where the fans made Pioneerof the Nile the 3-10 favorite.

Joe Talamo sent New Bay to the front, tracked by Feisty Suances and Jeranimo in the early going, with Pioneerof the Nile allowed to settle into fifth by Garrett Gomez. Fractions were slow…23:96 for the opening quarter, :48.60 for the half and 1:12.82 for six furlongs. Pioneerof the Nile commenced his rally on the turn, but it wasn’t a walk in the park for the son of Empire Maker, who had to be asked pretty severely down the stretch. Final time on the Pro-Ride synthetic surface was 1:43.35 for the 1 1/16 miles, after a mile clocking of 1:37.09.

It was not a visually impressive race by the winner, who paid $2.60 in what was his third conecutive win. He’s not a horse that wins by open lengths, however,  his Robert B. Lewis margin of victory a half length and his Cash Call Hollywood Futurity victory just a nose.  Pioneerof the Nile now has four wins in seven lifetime starts.

The runner-up, trained by Darrell Vienna, was coming off a fourth-place finish behind Chocolate Candy in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields Jan. 17.

San Felipe chart.

5:30 p.m. … Oaklawn owner Charles Cella (pictured on Rebel day, left) made a sweep through the press box to shake a few hands and say hello to the out-of-towners, primarily me and Joe Drape of the New York Times. Good old Southern hospitality never hurts. He recognizes my necktie, a souvenir from 1998 Arkansas Derby.

5:37 p.m. … Musket Man gets up in the final strides to win the Tampa Bay Derby by about a head over Join in the Dance. Justdontcallmejeri was third, with Nowhere to Hide Fourth. It was an eventful trip for the winner, who was fourth early as Perfect Bull and Join in the Dance carved out the early fractions. Approaching the far turn, Tampa Bay’s leading rider, Daniel Centeno, shifted Musket Man off the rail and was forced to check, then was shuffled back to eighth or ninth. The Yonaguska colt fought through horses around the turn and put in a strong rally to just get up for the win. He paid $13.80 for his fourth career win in five starts and first in a graded stakes. Musket Man, coming off a third to General Quarters in the Sam F. Davis, was not an early nominee to the Triple Crown.

Derek Ryan trains Musket Man for Eric Fein and Vic Carlson. Big disappointments in the race were Barclay Tagg-trained Hello Broadway, who was made the 2-1 but finished seventh after a wide trip, and General Quarters, the San F. Davis winner who was fifth as the second choice.

Tampa Bay Derby chart.

5:52 p.m. … Whoa! That was one impressive victory by Friesan Fire in the Louisiana Derby. The son of A.P. Indy got a confident ride from Gabriel Saez, coming from just off the pace to blow away the field by 7  1/4 lengths. Saez was doing more celebrating than riding in the final sixteenth, or the margin might have been even bigger. Of course, on sloppy racetracks, the conditions on which the Fair Grounds races were staged, you are more likely to see a horse draw off to a big winning margin. Nonetheless, that was a huge race. Final time was 1:43.46, with fractions of :24.12, :48.75, and 1:13.34 for the first six furlongs.

Papa Clem won the race for second, with early leader Terrain third and Giant Oak making a late run to pass tiring horses to get up for fourth. Patena, after making a four-wide rally on the turn, tired in the stretch and beat just one horse as the 4-1 second betting choice behind Friesan Fire, who paid $6.40 for the win.

Friesan Fire swept the three big races for 3-year-olds at Fair Grounds, the LeComte, Risen Star and Louisiana Derby, after being stakes placed twice at two. Cindy Jones, wife of trainer Larry Jones, filled in for her husband in saddling the horse who races for Vinery Stables and the Fox Hill Farms of Rick Porter, who also decided to go to Oaklawn and watch Old Fashioned in the Rebel. Of course, she did more than saddle the horse; she’s a big part of an operation that has been extremely successful the last three years. Larry Jones is at Oaklawn to put the tack on unbeaten Old Fahioned in the Rebel Stakes.

Louisiana Derby chart.

7:05 p.m. … Had to get out of the press box for a while, check out the lines for the corned beef sandwiches, take a walk through the packed grandstand, and get a closer look at the horses in today’s Rebel Stakes. Old Fashioned, the 1-5 favorite, looked a picture of composure in the infield saddling area. I’m not sure how composed the bridge jumpers are who pounded the show pools ($480,000 or so of the $550,000).

7:12 p.m. … Well, that’s why they run the race. Old Fashioned just got pipped by a 56-1 outsider named Win Willy. The roar of the crowd at the top of the stretch disappeared as Win Willy roared to the lead nearing the finish of the 1 1/16-mile Rebel to win by 2 1/4 lengths for Jer-Mar Stables and trainer McLean Robertson. Old Fashioned finished second, with Poltergeist third and Captain Cherokee fourth.

The winning mutuel was $115.60. But the bridge jumpers got their ten cents on the dollar, with Old Fashioned paying $2.60 to place and $2.20 to show.

Was Old Fashioned suckered into chasing too fast a pace in the race? Silver City set off on fast fractions: 22.54 for the quarter, :46.07 for the half and 1:11.67 for six furlongs. Ramon Dominguez moved Old Fashioned to the lead midway around the far turn, and applied several left-handed strokes when the field turned for home and the gray son of Unbridled’s Song appearing to be in clear control.

But Win Willy, who was last early, came flying down the stretch under Cliff Berry to complete the 1 1/16 miles on a good track (still wet from overnight rains) in 1:44.41 (after a mile split of 1:38.09). Old Fashioned held second by eight lengths. Silver City, who was a stubborn second to Old Fashioned in the Southwest Stakes, paid the price for his fast early fractions, finishing a well beaten eighth in the field of nine.

The winner, a son of Monarchos  bred by Overbrook Farm, was a $25,000 Keeneland September purchase. He won his career debut at Canterbury in Minnesota last August, then finished sixth on the turf at Remington Park in October. He took a liking to the Oaklawn Park surface, winning an optional claimer Feb. 22 going six furlongs, Earlier this meet it looked like he was no more than the second-best 3-year-old in Robertson’s barn behind a Salt Lake colt named Hamazing Destiny, who won his career debut at Oaklawn by 10 1/2 lengths. But when some clients of trainer D. Wayne Lukas wanted a potential Derby horse, they made a bid that Robertson’s clients couldn’t turn down, and Hamazing Destiny was led over to the Lukas barn. Robertson, who said after the Rebel the price for Hamazing Destiny was $1.5 million,had the last laugh on that deal, at least for now.

Rick Porter (pictured, left, with jockey Ramon Dominguez before the Rebel), who owns Old Fashioned and co-owns Friesan Fire, was a little on the nervous side before the Rebel. "Friesan Fire took a little of the pressure off," he said, while admitting that the pressure of having two viable contenders sure beats having a barn of slowpokes. Porter has to be disappointed that  Old Fashioned lost, but it’s hard to chase sprint fractions and stick around for a mile and sixteenth. On the other hand, maybe it’s the only way this horse can go, and the way things look right now, the Kentucky Derby field is going to be packed with early speed.

Quotes from winning trainer Mac Robertson: "After he won his last race I thought the distance would be okay. This race came at the right time frame. I was fairly impressed by his last race, and he did act that the distance would be no problem. This was a home run for us and the horse. If he comes out of this race well, we will keep him here and run in the Arkansas Derby."

Larry Jones, trainer of Old Fashioned, said: "It is hard to say what happened, the track was heavy, and with those kind of fractions it was found to catch up with him. He ran well, and we are proud of what he did."

D. Wayne Lukas said to Robertson: "You sold us the wrong horse! What about that horse that won today?"

Ramon Dominguez said about Old Fashioned: "The drying-out track and those fractions really hurt my colt’s chances. He really felt good under me during the early running, and then I felt him start to tire, when I asked him in the early stretch. Afterwards he galloped out well. Don’t count him out. He still has something to learn."

8:30 p.m. … Of the four Derby preps today, the obvious standout was the Louisiana Derby, where Friesan Fire absolutely toyed with what was a pretty good field of horses. He’ll move up on a lof of Derby lists, and Pioneerof the Nile and Old Fashioned are mostly likely going to lose some support. It’s hard to knock a horse who wins, but Pioneerof the Nile was really under pressure to beat a field that he really should have handled much easier. Add that to the question about whether or not he is going to make a successful transition to dirt, and I can’t see his stock doing anything but falling a couple of notches. But he’ll have a chance to run again before the first Saturday in May and prove me wrong.

Old Fashioned ran what I think was a better than looked race. Funny things can happen in a horse race — especially one where the fractions are so fast — but Terry Wallace, who’s called the races at Oaklawn for 35 years, said he hasn’t seen a more shocking Rebel upset since a maiden, Riverside Sam, beat eventual Preakness winner Elocutionist in 1976. "Sometimes when you call a race you say to yourself, ‘I can’t believe what I’m seeing,’ and today was one of those days," said Wallace.

Chart of the Rebel Stakes.

9:00 p.m. … Some random closing thoughts. If you think horse racing is dead, come to Oaklawn Park on a weekend. Despite damp weather and temperatures in the high 40s or low 50s, the turnstiles clicked 28,240 times, the second-biggest Rebel day crowd in the track’s long history. Handle was also second-best for the Rebel: a total of $6.5 million was wagered on the program on-track and at simulcast sites throughout the country.

There were some familiar faces in the crowd, including John Ed Anthony and his son Edwin (pictured, right), who just began contributing pedigree profiles of some leading Kentucky Derby contenders to the Paulick Report. John Ed raced horses for years in the name of Loblolly Stables with a great deal of success. He now races as Shortleaf Stable, and uses D. Wayne Lukas as trainer. "I’ll tell you one thing," he said. "It’s a lot easier to get a good horse when you’ve 50 or 60 than when you’ve got a dozen." Anthony is an Arkansas native and lumberman who knows as much about the Razorback State as anyone I know. "There’s a lot of wealthy people in Arkansas," he said, "and I think almost all of them want to race horses."

But no one I ran across (other than Charles Cella perhaps) has seen more Oaklawn Park meetings come and go than Don Grisham (pictured, left), the retired Daily Racing Form writer who at 78 years of age still loves coming to the track and assists the media department. Grisham grew up in Hot Springs and started sneaking into Oaklawn Park to watch the races behind some bushes (you had to be 16 to get into the track through the gates), beginning in 1943. Around that time, Grisham said, Triple Crown winner Whirlaway was his hero. "My friends’ heroes were people like Stan Musial (the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer)," Grisham said, "but Whirlaway was it for me." Grisham said he heard that Whirlaway was stabled at Oaklawn one meeting during World War II, (though he never raced at Oaklawn) and he built up the courage to track down trainer Ben Jones in hopes of getting a look at the horse nicknamed Mr. Longtail. 

"He couldn’t have been nicer when I told him I was Whirlaway’s No.1 fan," Grisham said. "He pulled him out and let me get a look at  him, then gave me three pieces of advice: ‘Listen to your parents. Get a good education. Don’t ever lose your enthusiasm for the game.’ I don’t know where I’d be today if Ben Jones wasn’t nice to me."

Grisham hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for racing, and neither have the Oaklawn Park faithful.

One final note: the wait in the Arkansas Sports Tavern was worth it. I decided to upgrade on the corned beef sandwich and went for the corned beef reuben. Let me tell you…it was mighty tasty — and well worth the trip.

And that’s a wrap from Oaklawn Park. 

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick

Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella has always been something of a contrarian, so it should really not be that big a surprise that his Hot Springs, Ark., track’s business is running contrary to national trends this year. Attendance and handle are down at most tracks, with overall betting in the United States down 6.7% for the first two months of the year. But not at Oaklawn Park.

Both attendance and handle are up for the first half of the Oaklawn meeting, leading to a purse increase that was announced last week. At the midway point of the Oaklawn season, on-track attendance is 279,189 this year compared with 269,797 in 2008, a 3% percent increase. On-track handle is also up 3%. Its exported simulcast signal has grown by 6% from 2008.

“Numbers from the first half of our season are surprisingly good,” Oaklawn president Charles J. Cella said in a press release, “especially when you consider the current economy.”

Terry Wallace the voice of Oaklawn for 35 years and the head of the media relations department, said there are several reasons the track is bucking the national trend. “We didn’t have reason to expect that we’d be up,” Wallace said. “But we’ve had cooperative weather, and I don’t think our part of the country has had the dramatic rises and falls in the economy that a lot of people in other regions have had.”

Wallace said field size is another reason business has grown, especially Oaklawn’s simulcast signal. Average number of starters at the midway point of the season is 9.86, a 5% increase over the same period last year, when average field size at this time was 9.36.

“We haven’t had many off tracks this year, either,” he said, “and the track has been playing very fair with no biases. Big fields and a consistent racetrack is what people are looking for. The Instant Racing machines have been very popular here, too; they’ve been a great success for us, and we’ve seen a significant jump in handle on that this year.

“And it doesn’t hurt to have really good horses here like Old Fashioned and Proud Spell,” he added. Proud Spell, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly lost her 2009 debut Thursday, and leading Kentucky Derby candidate Old Fashioned goes in Saturday’s Rebel Stakes.

Finally, Wallace said, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who is based at Oaklawn for the third consecutive year, has been a tremendous public relations asset.

“Wayne Lukas has been incredible,” he said. “He mixes with the crowd, both in the track grandstand and in the gaming area. People here have learned to really like him. As a result, he’s a hero around here. He’s a rock star.”

Lukas gave a motivational talk to a group in Hot Springs a couple of days before the meeting opened, Wallace said.

“He said you can never overestimate the value of kindness, and he’s showing a lot of kindness to our fans. He’s got a new thing he’s doing, and it’s become really popular. When he wins a race, he randomly finds a young person in the crowd and asks if they’d like to have their picture taken in the winner’s circle. He’ll invite the whole family down there if they want to come. And if the family wants a copy of the picture he’ll get one for them and autograph it. He has been so good to the people here. It’s been really amazing.”

Lukas is currently fourth in the trainer standings with 11 wins.

The meeting continues through April 11, with the $1-million Arkansas Derby, which has been a key Kentucky Derby prep in recent years.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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