Oaklawn showing 3-year-olds the money

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – What to do for an encore?

Oaklawn Park’s racing program reached a pinnacle last season when the eventual Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, launched his 3-year-old campaign with wins in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby. It was the highest high in a run of 3-year-old success for Oaklawn dating back to Smarty Jones in 2004, but Oaklawn is not resting on its laurels for the 2016 meet, which opens Friday.

Purses during the 57-date season are projected to average a record $475,000 a program, and more than 20 new trainers have set up shop in Hot Springs. In addition, the 3-year-old program – which has seen eight of its recent graduates win a dozen Triple Crown races – is being bolstered again for 2016.

The purse for the Grade 3 Southwest on Feb. 15 has been increased from $300,000 to $500,000, while the Grade 2 Rebel on March 19 has been boosted from $750,000 to $900,000. The races are stepping-stones to the $1 million Arkansas Derby on the closing-day card April 16, and the increases are intended to keep Oaklawn in the forefront on the Triple Crown trail, according to track president Charles Cella.

“We have such a growing program now," said Cella, "with the Southwest and the Rebel leading up to our derby, we want to be sure and show our gratitude to the owners and trainers, as well as the public, and show that we mean business, that our program is equal to any in the country.”

And there could be even more where that came from, said Cella, who in 2004 raised the purse of the Arkansas Derby to $1 million.

“We’re already looking ahead, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the next couple of years if we raised the derby – if our program continues to grow as it is,” he said. “It is little early to be projecting that at the moment, but I can see where $1 million won’t mean as much as it does now, and we want to be in the front rather than come from behind. We want to set the pace.”

Oaklawn’s purses are funded in part by an ontrack gaming center that was expanded just before the meet opened in 2015. It now includes more than 1,200 player positions, according to Oaklawn general manager Eric Jackson, and the success of the operation has helped lift purses for maiden special weight races to $68,000 at this meet, up from $60,000 last year. In addition, purses for allowances will be as high as $75,000, while the minimum purse, for $5,000 claiming horses, has been raised to $21,000.

“The model we have developed for racing and gaming is working to a marvelous degree,” Jackson said. “I think last year our average daily purses were just north of $400,000. This year, there’s a very good chance we could reach $500,000 a day.”

Oaklawn’s 31-race stakes schedule is worth a record $7.5 million. The biggest events fall during the final week of the meet, when the annual Racing Festival of the South features at least one major stakes a day, including the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 16. The Oaklawn Handicap is now worth $750,000 after carrying a purse of $600,000 last year. The minimum stakes purse will be $100,000 at this meet, said racing secretary Pat Pope, the highest ever.

Pope had requests for 3,000 stalls and can accommodate about 1,500 horses on the backstretch, which has a new barn this season, the 40-stall Zenyatta. Pope is shooting for full fields this season, and with 99 runners in nine races Friday, the meet is off to an 11-horse average.

“Last year, the average was 9.2, and we would like to be higher this year,” Pope said. “We did not miss any training. The work tab is fine. What I’m hearing is they’re ready to go.”

Pete Aiello will be calling the action as the new announcer at Oaklawn. The track’s signal will now be broadcast in high definition, according to track official David Longinotti.