Oaklawn will start next meet earlier; may move Arkansas Derby

The Arkansas Racing Commission on Thursday unanimously approved Oaklawn Park’s racing calendar for next season. In changes, the meet will mostly be comprised of three-day race weeks instead of last season’s four, and will start in November rather than December.

Oaklawn was approved for a 65-date meet from Nov. 27, 2026, through May 1, 2027.

Oaklawn attorney Skip Ebel said Oaklawn would race Friday and Saturday over opening weekend. The track will then shift to Fridays through Sundays most weeks, while adding Thursdays the final three weeks in March and on April 29. There will be a special Monday holiday card Feb. 15.

Ebel said there will be a one-week break in January, with no racing the week of Jan. 15-17.

Oaklawn will be dark on Dec. 25 for Christmas, on March 28 for Easter, and on Sunday, April 11. Oaklawn president Lou Cella said earlier this year that the track could move the Arkansas Derby from five to three weeks out from the Kentucky Derby, running it on April 10.

He said at the time that the stakes schedule is expected to be finalized over the summer.

Feichtinger dead at 66

Mike Feichtinger, a long time racing official in various jurisdictions and the stakes coordinator at Oaklawn, died May 14, according to friends. The native of Omaha, Neb., was 66. Service times are to be determined, according to an obituary from Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Home in Delaware.

Feichtinger was a key player in an outstanding season of stakes racing at Oaklawn this past meet, as the Oaklawn Handicap drew reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty, Preakness winner Journalism, and multiple Grade 1 winner White Abarrio.

◗ Lone Star Park announced there will be a free autograph session Monday with jockeys Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz, who are in town to ride stakes on the Lone Star Million Day card. Jose Ortiz won the Kentucky Derby this year aboard Golden Tempo. The event at the east entrance runs from 2 to 2:30 p.m. Central.

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