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Oaklawn Tackles Challenges as 2021 Meet Gets Underway

The Arkansas oval's meet runs Jan. 22-May 1 with a stakes schedule worth $11 million.

Racing at Oaklawn Park

Racing at Oaklawn Park

Coady Photography

Louis Cella's vision for the future of Oaklawn Park continues to take shape, albeit not at the pace he prefers. 

Construction on a new seven-story, 200-room hotel and multi-purpose event center are nearing completion as the Hot Springs, Ark., track prepares to launch its 57-day live racing season Jan. 22. The massive $100 million-plus project, which included an expanded gaming center, was unveiled in November 2018, less than a month after Arkansas voters approved full-fledged casino wagering at Oaklawn and three other sites around the state.  

Oaklawn opened its 28,000-square-foot gaming expansion roughly a year ago. Track officials had once targeted a late 2020 opening for the hotel and adjoining 14,000-square-foot event center, but ripple effects from the COVID-19 outbreak, initially felt by the live racing product last March, have pushed that opening to mid-March.

"It's just been delay after delay," said Cella, Oaklawn's president since December 2017. "COVID is causing delays by shipping, and then it's causing delays by air, and then it's causing delays by truck. But slowly but surely, we're putting all the pieces together. It will be open, we hope, by the end of the first quarter."

The yet-to-be-named hotel, the centerpiece of a project billed as one of the largest hospitality investments in Arkansas history, already towers over the first turn and will feature two presidential suites, an outdoor swimming pool, a luxury spa, and a fitness center. A new fine-dining space, The Bugler, opened late last month. The new First Turn Bar is scheduled to open this week, Cella said.

"Both of those are on the trackside, facing the first turn," Cella said. "It truly is an extraordinary view of the track." 

Whitmore wins 2020 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park
Photo: Coady Photography
Racing at Oaklawn Park

Oaklawn has announced numerous protocols regarding COVID-19 and safety/integrity in advance of the 2021 meeting. In accordance with Arkansas Department of Health guidelines, Oaklawn plans to limit spectators to begin the live racing meet, although Cella said restrictions could be loosened later in the season. Oaklawn already requires temperature checks to enter the barn area, and specific COVID-19 protocols for the frontside include:

  • General admission into the grandstand not initially allowed.
  • Entrance into the grandstand will be strictly for guests with racing credentials and/or reservations for that day's races.
  • Current seasonal box seat holders and current Oaklawn Jockey Club members may enter the grandstand, with weekly reservations required.
  • Restaurants inside the grandstand, following Arkansas Department of Health directives, open to the public, with weekly reservations required.
  • Simulcasting open Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. CT, to a limited capacity, with weekly reservations required.
  • Social distancing enforced.
  • All guests and team members required to have non-invasive temperature checks as they enter the facility. Anyone with a temp at/over 100 degrees will not be permitted inside the building.
  • All guests and team members required to wear masks.
  • Smoking not allowed inside the facility, including the casino.

"Basically, it's really simple dumb-downed crowd control, if you will," Cella said. "We know how many people maximum, which will be about 6,500 people, can attend the races at Oaklawn, spread out throughout the facility. To put that into perspective, we have over 500,000 square feet under (our) roof. So, 6,000 folks spread out among five floors, it's quite doable, and that's what we're doing. When weather gets a little nicer, we'll spill outside, and we'll be able to open more to the general public, outside, in our infield, and on our apron. We'll add some tents, we'll add concessions, and do things that we typically do, but not as grandiose as on weekends."

Cella said Oaklawn is adding more self-serve mutuel terminals, spacing mutuel tellers "so they're not on top of each other" and not charging for parking (unless it's preferred) or programs. Oaklawn waived its $2 general admission fee in 2015.

"We're taking away that one more interaction with getting money out and talking to people," Cella said. "We're doing our part, just trying to make it as less difficult as possible and to make it enjoyable to see and enjoy the races."

Winners Circle - Opening Day - Oaklawn Park - 012519 - Louis Cella
Photo: Coady Photography
Louis Cella in 2019 at Oaklawn Park

All Oaklawn-based jockeys must provide one negative COVID-19 test taken five days before they plan to ride at the meeting. Riders coming from other tracks must provide two negative COVID-19 tests, taken within five days, to ride at Oaklawn. Jockeys who leave Oaklawn and return must follow the same testing protocols before being cleared to ride. Jockeys will also receive daily temperature checks and are required to wear masks and riding gloves.

Following discussions with the Arkansas Racing Commission and the Arkansas Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, Oaklawn's new equine safety/integrity protocols include: 

  • The use of Clenbuterol or any other beta2-agonist not allowed within 60 days prior to a race at Oaklawn, confirmed for the first time through hair testing.
  • The maximum dosage of Lasix that can be administered reduced by 50% without specific approval of the state veterinarian. Though Lasix will be permitted for most Oaklawn stakes, it will be prohibited in any 3-year-old stakes race that awards points toward eligibility in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). The Smarty Jones Stakes, Southwest Stakes (G3), Rebel Stakes (G2), and Arkansas Derby (G1) are for horses on the Road to the Kentucky Derby; the Martha Washington Stakes, Honeybee Stakes (G3), and Fantasy Stakes (G3) are for horses on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.
  • The use of extracorporeal shock wave therapy, radial pulse wave therapy, or similar treatments not allowed within 30 days of a race. Also, shock wave equipment will not be allowed on Oaklawn's grounds at any time.
  • Trainer and veterinarian records made available upon request for review by the pre-race exam veterinarians.
  • The only riding crops allowed during races will be the 360 Gentle Touch, Pro-Cush, or other similar riding crops approved by the stewards.
  • Horses will be required to be on the grounds at least 72 hours before races unless approved for late arrival. To facilitate this, entries will be scheduled at least four days prior to a race.

"We're taking a very reasoned approach, a negotiated approach, with our horsemen," Cella said.

Purses for the 2021 meet are projected to average approximately $600,000 daily, trimmed from roughly $700,000, after Oaklawn lost on-site revenue last year when moving to spectator-free racing in March and shuttering its casino several days later because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The casino, responsible for Oaklawn's explosive purse growth in recent years, reopened in a limited capacity in late May, a little more than two weeks after live racing ended. Four $1 million races—the March 13 Rebel, April 10 Arkansas Derby, and the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) and Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 17—highlight the 33-race stakes schedule worth a record $11 million. All stakes races are worth at least $150,000.   

The top eight riders from last year return, including defending champion Ricardo Santana Jr., Joe Talamo, Martin Garcia, and 2019 leader David Cohen. Santana is seeking his eighth Oaklawn riding title. The most prominent newcomer is Florent Geroux, who had previously been based in the winter at Fair Grounds.

BLOOD-HORSE STAFF: Geroux Follows Top Cox Prospects to Oaklawn

All of the top 10 trainers return from 2020. Robertino Diodoro, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, and Brad Cox finished 1-2-3, respectively, in last year's standings. Asmussen, seeking his record-tying 11th Oaklawn title, and Cox are finalists for an Eclipse Award as the country's outstanding trainer of 2020.

Cella said he sees Oaklawn's future, beginning with the 2021 live meet, as "very bright."

"Our purses will increase because we will be able to offer our other revenue streams, like the casino gambling, and our hotel will be open," Cella said. "There's simply no other racing venue in America that has this quality, high-end quality, hotel resort that's sitting on a premier racetrack to see the races, from which you can see the horses train in the morning or race in the afternoon and wager from your room. Staying in your robe and pajamas all day and enjoying the sport of kings, I mean that's spectacular."

Oaklawn's meeting runs through May 1.

Oaklawn Handicap Trophy - Oaklawn Park - 042620
Photo: Coady Photography
The Oaklawn Handicap trophy at Oaklawn Park