Oaklawn Park, the picturesque track located in the heart of Hot Springs
National Park, will kick off its 2006 meeting on Friday and run through April 15.
Post time for Friday and Saturday will be at 1 p.m. (CST), while the 1ST race
will go off at the traditional starting time of 1:30 on Sunday. The Arkansas track will feature 27 stakes races, 10 graded, worth $4.45 million.
As always, the Racing Festival of the South is the main highlight of the
102nd season at Oaklawn. It gets underway on April 8 with two important races, the $500,000 Apple Blossom H. (G1) and
$500,000 Oaklawn H. (G2), and will also feature the $150,000 Count Fleet Sprint
H. (G3) on April 13 and $250,000 Fantasy S. (G2) on April 14 before concluding
with the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G2) on
April 15. The latter event has been captured the past two years by sophomores
who would go on and take two of the three legs of the Triple Crown — Smarty Jones
and Afleet Alex, respectively.
The $50,000 Dixieland S. for
three-year-olds is the opening-day feature at Oaklawn Park. Leading contenders for the 5 1/2-furlong dash
include CATONIGHT (Katowice), a 2 1/2-length winner of the Sugar Bowl S.; Iowa
Cradle S. hero TIMETOBOOK (Gilded Time); the undefeated CORREDOR DE PLATA
(El Corredor), who exits a solid victory against
allowance/optional claming company at Louisiana Downs; and the
John Servis-trained FIDRYCH (Grand Slam), a 12-length winner versus allowance
foes at the Meadowlands.
Oaklawn will offer two new wagering selections for the 2006 racing season. A Pick
4, involving the final four races on the card, has been added to each day’s
racing program and the track has lowered the superfecta minimum to 10 cents. The superfecta,
which was previously offered only once a day, will now be available three
times daily. Oaklawn
has also added net pool pricing in order to allow wagering from Canada.