HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park is considering moving to a four-day race week for the majority of its meet next season in conversations being held with horsemen and Hot Springs community leaders, according to track president Lou Cella.
Oaklawn’s current meet format features a three-day race week, from Friday through Sunday.
Cella said the prospective new calendar would call for a “holiday meet” featuring Friday-through-Sunday racing in December. Oaklawn would then pause racing for two to three weeks in January before resuming with four days of racing, Thursday through Sunday through the close of the season on the first Saturday in May.
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Cella said Oaklawn is limited to 68 dates of racing in a calendar year by law, so that is a piece of the puzzle in its conversations with stakeholders as meets span two calendar years. The track also is mindful of properly scheduling its four points races for the Kentucky Derby.
“That’s paramount,” Cella said.
Cella said there were several reasons to discuss potential changes to the calendar.
“We talked to all the interested parties,” Cella said. “We asked them, ‘We’ve done this three-day-a-week schedule a few years. Yes, it’s worked. What would be better?’ We’re always looking at what can be better, and the thinking right now is everybody loves the December three-day-a-week meet, but they’d like to see [starting in] February a four-day-a-week schedule.
“We’re limited in the number of days. In order to do that, we might take a break” in January.
Cella said a number of prominent riders who have come in for races said they would favor a four-day race week at Oaklawn.
“They said wouldn’t it be great if they had our purses in a four-day week instead of a three-day week – it would help their schedule,” Cella said. “So maybe other outfits would come and take advantage of that, like other jockeys. We’re always tweaking, always evolving, always seeing what’s best not just for Oaklawn, but what’s best for our industry. That’s the bottom line.”
The final schedule agreed upon by stakeholders will then be presented to the Arkansas Racing Commission, which annually awards race dates to Oaklawn.
Major races moved to Sunday?
Oaklawn could usher in another notable change to its calendar next season. Cella said the track will consider having some major stakes on Sundays after Rebel Day was moved from Saturday, Feb. 22, to Sunday, Feb. 23 this year due to inclement weather. The track drew more than 35,000 patrons ontrack and handle on the card from all sources topped $19 million.
“We had to push off a day, to run it on a Sunday, and we learned some things,” said Cella. “We’ve learned that if you put a big stakes on a Sunday, people are going to come. So, that lends itself to being creative next year, to really build up a Friday, Saturday, Sunday [raceweek] and not shy away from having a big Sunday and a big Saturday and a big Friday.”
Cella said Oaklawn could create a festival type of raceweek leading into a major race on a Sunday.
Oaklawn generally has spotted its biggest races on Saturdays versus Sundays.
“We’re always nervous and a little gun shy of pulling that trigger, but we had to out of necessity,” Cella said, “and when you had 35,000 people show up after snowmageddon and icemageddon, that’s pretty extraordinary. And once again, it’s a testament to our fans. They love seeing high quality and they come out like the postman. No matter what the weather gives them, they’re going to show up.”
The handle on the card was one of the highest for a Rebel.
“Not only did we have our ontrack [numbers], but nationally, it far exceeded our expectations,” said Cella.
Oaklawn has been through an unusually testing winter. The track lost five dates in January due to inclement weather and another two in February, according to records from Equibase. The track also lost a partial card to flooding rains in February. Oaklawn put on some makeup cards and added other lost races to existing cards to hit back against the blows from Mother Nature.
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