Handle up, field size down during recently concluded Oaklawn meet

Overall handle and average handle per race at the recently concluded Oaklawn Park meet in Hot Springs, Ark., showed marginal gains compared to the previous meet. However, a shift in the racing week took its toll on field size, according to a Daily Racing Form analysis.

Total handle for the 62-day meet rose 3 percent to $430.75 million, while average handle per race increased 2 percent to $687,001, according to the analysis. Oaklawn Park ran 627 races this year over 62 days, compared to 621 races over 62 days last year.

Oaklawn scheduled a winter break this year that got extended by a week after an ice storm hit the entire Midwest and parts of the Mid-South in January. After the break, Oaklawn ran four days a week, rather than three days a week, as it had in recent years.

The addition of race days during the week took a toll on field size, as did the shutdown of the track for training for 10 days during the ice storm. Average field size dropped by slightly more than half a horse during the meet, from 9.29 horses per race in the previous meet to 8.77 horses per race, according to the analysis.

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Oaklawn has already said that it is shortening its mid-winter break for its 2026-2027 meet and will maintain the three-day race week after the break.

Oaklawn has rapidly emerged as one of the most prominent winter and spring racetracks over the past decade, principally due to the success of the track’s casino and its commitment to pouring gaming revenues into the racing operation. Despite that success, total purse distribution at that rack declined 3.3 percent compared to the previous meet, while the average purse at the track dopped 4.2 percent to $86,368. Still, that average purse number puts Oaklawn squarely in the top echelon of U.S. tracks, more than double the average purse nationwide.

On the track, Steve Asmussen, Oaklawn’s all-time leading trainer, won both the trainer’s title and owner’s title, at least by wins. Asmussen won 62 races as a trainer, with earnings of $5.34 million, while notching 24 wins as an owner. John Oxley topped Asmussen’s purse winnings as an owner, with a total of $1,187,500.

Ramon Vazquez took the rider’s title with 76 wins and purse earnings of $4.28 million.

Oaklawn said that 12 trainers earned purses in excess of $1 million at the meet, while 18 jockeys hit the $1 million mark.

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