Live racing returns to Hot Springs, Arkansas, with the opening of Oaklawn’s
2014 live meet Friday and greeting fans will be some of the most competitive
racing in the country, especially in the three-year-old ranks. Overall, the
57-day meet will offer more than $20 million in purses and 31 stakes,
highlighted by the 78th running of the $1 million Arkansas Derby April 12.
Oaklawn’s three-year-old stakes program is one of the most successful in the
nation and last year, it produced likely champion three-year-old Will Take
Charge and Oxbow, whose victory in the Preakness was the 10th Triple Crown race
won by an Oaklawn-raced horse in 10 years. The four-race program offers 289
points based on the qualifying method for the Kentucky Derby and these race days
also help anchor some of Oaklawn’s most popular promotions.
The series starts January 20 with a special holiday card that features the
$150,000 Smarty Jones and a free baseball cap giveaway with paid admission. It
continues February 17 with a President’s Day card that includes the $300,000
Southwest and $55,000 Progressive Cash Giveaway.
Next to Arkansas Derby Day, the most anticipated day during the Oaklawn meet
is Rebel Stakes Day, March 15. In addition to this $600,000 race for aspiring
sophomores, the card now includes the $200,000 Razorback Handicap and $200,000
Azeri, and one lucky fan will walk away with a new boat and truck, courtesy of
Bradford Marine.
The meet will begin with the traditional 50-cent corned beef sandwiches
opening on January 11 and end with the Racing Festival of the South, which
starts April 5 with the $400,000 Fantasy and concludes April12 with the Arkansas
Derby and three other stakes.
Back by popular demand, Oaklawn will open its infield, complete with a Beer
Garden, live music and family-friendly activities, every Saturday from Rebel
Stakes Day through Arkansas Derby Day. The popular “Dawn at Oaklawn” program
returns February 15 and will allow guests to get up close and personal with the
horses and top racing personalities from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. (CT) every Saturday
through the end of the meet. Visitors can also take barn tours as part of the
Saturday morning program.
Post times will be 1:30 p.m. on weekdays and Sundays and 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
Some exceptions are Opening Day, January 10; Super Bowl Sunday, February 2; and
the two holiday Mondays, January 20 and February 17, when first post is 1 p.m.
Friday’s feature is the $100,000
Dixie
Belle, a six-furlong dash for three-year-old fillies. Among the likely
favorites is More Than Beauty, an allowance winner at Churchill Downs last
September for trainer Cecil Borel. The stakes-placed filly is a daughter of
Brown Eyed Beauty, who captured the 2003 Spring Fever at Oaklawn.
Also expected to attract support is Street Story, a Churchill maiden winner
who ran second in the December 21 Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds.
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