A year after hosting the induction ceremony for the first time, two of the most prominent figures in Oaklawn history, executive Louis Cella and the late trainer D. Wayne Lukas, will be part of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame's 2026 class, the ASHOF's 68th overall.
"How about that?" Cella said. "That was a little shot out of the dark that surprised me, but I was very honored. A little bit over my skis. But when you're in a category with D. Wayne Lukas, you have to check your pulse and see what the hell is going on."
Cella has been Oaklawn's president since December 2017, succeeding his father, Charles Cella, who died earlier that month. Under Louis Cella's leadership, Oaklawn has become a tourist, entertainment and racing destination after completing a reported $100 million expansion in 2021, highlighted by a 198-room luxury resort hotel that overlooks the track's first turn and 1,500-seat event center.
Additional space for full-fledged casino gaming has pushed Oaklawn's average daily purse distribution to more than $900,000, highest of any winter track.
Oaklawn has been owned by the Cella family for more than 100 years. Charles Cella, who became Oaklawn's president in 1968, was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
Lukas was an industry giant.
A 1999 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Lukas amassed 4,953 career Thoroughbred victories (the ninth-highest total in North American history), including 15 Triple Crown events. Lukas, a one-time basketball coach, was Oaklawn's leading trainer in 1987 and 2011 and is its eighth-winningest trainer in history with 384 victories, the last coming a little more than two months before his death June 28. He was 89.
Oaklawn will honor Lukas' memory with Friday's inaugural $135,000 "The Coach" Overnight Stakes for 4-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.
The ASHOF induction ceremony had been held at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Ark., before Oaklawn wrestled the event away in 2025. Cella said he was recently informed of his selection by Steven Riffle, the ASHOF's new executive director.
"It was fun when I got the call from the executive director," Cella said. "I said: 'I've been to about 10 of these, but I've never been to one at Oaklawn because we started it last year.' He started laughing and said: 'I've never been to one, either, because I just started three months ago.'"
The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony is April 10 in the Oaklawn Event Center.
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