HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park might be more than 120 years old, but its team has managed to give each passing meet a fresh feel. That will again be the case Friday when the Arkansas track launches a 64-date season that continues through May 2. The changes start with a new racing format. Oaklawn will put on a holiday meet through Jan. 4. Then, after a three-week break, the track will return with a classic meet from Jan. 30 to May 2. Oaklawn is also adding three new wagers, completing construction on two new barns, hosting two major handicapping contests, rolling out a player rewards program for racing patrons that mirrors its casino offering, and debuting a horsemen’s lounge in the grandstand. This all comes against the backdrop of the richest winter racing program in the nation, with $60 million in purses up for grabs. Oaklawn is offering either a stakes or overnight stakes on each card during the holiday meet. It also has boosted the Fantasy purse to $1 million and will run the Rebel on a Sunday. This has all resulted in 2,600 stall requests for the track’s 1,400-plus stalls, according to Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. I’ve said this over the last few years: Our trajectory is on an upswing, not a downswing,” said Lou Cella, president of Oaklawn. “We’re one of the very few tracks that can boast that, and because of that, our horsemen know where they ought to be for the December to May meets. And we’re very fortunate to be in that position, and we’re not sitting on our laurels. “We have to do things that make them want to come to Oaklawn.” Four-day weeks at classic meet Oaklawn will conduct racing three days a week, every Friday through Sunday, during its holiday meet. It will then shift to a mostly four-day-a-week schedule, Thursdays through Sundays, for the classic meet. The break between meets was necessary to make the number of dates allowed by the state stretch over a season that again ends on Kentucky Derby Day. “Oaklawn and our horsemen are partnering in an experiment to see if it works, quite honestly,” Cella said of the schedule. “To benefit the horsemen, they say it helps them with a four-day program to help their staff and have an ability to perhaps earn some additional purse money on that additional day to pay for that staff. “We believe, on management’s side, that it’s not beneficial from a wagering perspective to run four days, but if it’s going to help our horsemen out, we said, ‘We’ll try it.’ ” Stakes a day during holidays Pope said maiden special weight purses during the track’s holiday meet are set at $100,000, while first-level allowances are worth $115,000 and no-conditions allowances $120,000. The minimum purse is $30,000, and the minimum claiming price will be $7,500. There will be a card made up of all 2-year-old races on Dec. 27. Pope said the idea of having either an overnight stakes or stakes race on each card during the holiday meet is like a children’s advent calendar. “The team wanted to try a stakes a day, try to give patrons something to look forward to every day for the holiday meet,” he said. “We had to come up with some new categories.” Pope said those categories include a pair of overnight stakes for 4-year-olds on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2. Lukas honored with race, book The $135,000 The Coach at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 2 is named for the late Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He died earlier this year after being a major part of the racing program at Oaklawn Park. “He was a very, very special friend,” said Pope. “You can’t make up for him. He convinced you that there was more sun in the sky than there really was because he always made you feel when you left him, there’s always more you can do. There’s always something better, so keep going. You can’t replace someone like that, and the way he approached the industry and the game. You just cannot.” Pope said trainers Mike Maker and Dallas Stewart, who were both assistants to Lukas, were assigned stalls in his old barn as a means of being respectful to Lukas. Cella said there are plans being discussed to honor Lukas during the races on Jan. 2. ◗ A new children’s book, “Ollie the Oaklawn Owl: Whoooo’s That Trainer?” pays tribute to Lukas. It will be released Friday. Rebel to be run on Sunday Cella said the track’s classic meet will feature an increase in some overnight purses compared to the holiday meet. The classic meet will also host all of the track’s signature stakes, with the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on March 28; the Grade 1, $1.25 million Apple Blossom on April 11; and the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap on April 18. “It will ramp up considerably,” Cella said of the purse structure. “At the end of the day, we’re still going to be offering $60 million in purses, $900,000-something a day. We’re deliberately a little lighter on the holiday meet because all the horses aren’t there yet. But when we start our classic meet, watch out, because those purses will shoot out the roof.” Cella said the Grade 3,  $1 million Southwest will help kick off the start of the classic meet, as it will be run Jan. 31. The Southwest is a major prep for the Kentucky Derby, as is the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel, which will be run on March 1. It’s the second time the Rebel will be held on a Sunday after having been moved to that day earlier this year due to a winter storm. Pope said there will be a festival of sorts that week, with an overnight stakes on Friday, Feb. 27; the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback and Carousel on Saturday; and four high-end offerings on Rebel Day. The races figure to produce starters for Arkansas Derby-week stakes, including the Fantasy. The purse for the Fantasy was boosted from $750,000 to $1 million, and it has been moved back to a Friday card on March 27. The Fantasy will be the richest prep for the Kentucky Oaks, and its recent winners include eventual Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. “The Fantasy is such a special race,” Cella said. “It’s the hallmark of our filly program. It deserves every bit of creditability that it has right now, and it should only grow. It’s deserving of that kind of money.” ◗ Oaklawn is bringing back the $1 pick six for the first time in years. There also will be a $3 late pick three and a $5 late double, with both wagers having takeout reduced from 21 percent to 15 percent. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.