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Oaklawn meet opens with four-day weekend

Last updated: 1/11/12 1:25 PM

In Arkansas, there are five seasons -- Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall and the

Oaklawn live meet, which is set to start Friday with the aptly named $75,000

Fifth

Season Stakes. Other highlights of the four-day opening weekend are the

traditional 50-cent corned beef sandwiches on Saturday, and Oaklawn ball caps

will be given away with each paid admission while supplies last on Monday,

Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In addition to January 16, Oaklawn will also host a special Monday card on

President's Day, February 20. The Monday cards will also be highlighted by the

first two races in Oaklawn's three-year-old colt and gelding series, the

$100,000 Smarty Jones on Monday and the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes on

President's Day.

The series, which has produced six Triple Crown race winners since 2004,

continues March 17 with the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel Stakes, which received a

$200,000 purse increase in 2012, and culminates April 14 with the Grade 1, $1

million Arkansas Derby.

The regular live racing schedule will be Thursdays thru Sundays. First post

is 1:30 p.m. (CT) weekdays and Sundays and 1 p.m. Saturdays and holiday Mondays.

For the fourth consecutive year, Oaklawn Park's first condition book reflects

an increase in purses from the start of the previous meet. For the first time in

track history, maiden allowance races will start out carrying a minimum purse of

$40,000 and the minimum claiming race purse will be $15,300. Last year, maiden

allowance races started at $36,000 and the minimum purse was $15,200.

"The continued success of Instant Racing and our Gaming Center keeps

delivering as promised in the form higher purses, which allows us to improve our

racing product every year," said David Longinotti, Assistant General Manager of

Racing. "Oaklawn is very proud that we continue to buck the national trend and

can offer these record purses."

In total, there will be 34 stakes races worth nearly $5.2 million during the

season. The 56-day meet will culminate April 14, Arkansas Derby day.

Oaklawn has condensed its annual Racing Festival of the South and will now

run its final nine stakes from April 11-14. The rich four days of racing begins

Wednesday of that week with the Grade 2, $300,000 Fantasy Stakes for

three-year-old fillies; continues Thursday with the $75,000 Carousel Stakes and

$100,000 Redbud Stakes; Friday with the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap

and $100,000 Instant Racing Stakes; and ends Saturday with the $100,000 Northern

Spur Stakes, Grade 3, $200,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, Grade 2, $350,000

Oaklawn Handicap, and the Arkansas Derby.

"Our hope with the compressing of the Racing Festival is to make it more

convenient to send horses to Hot Springs," Longinotti said. "Horsemen will be

able to line up one plane, send several horses across a couple different

divisions and arrange to have their main riders come for all the races of the

Festival. We are confident that with this move, we will not only continue to

attract the best three-year-olds, but will continue to have large, competitive

fields for all our Festival races."

Oaklawn has reduced the minimum bet for the Pick 3, Pick 4 and Classix wager.

The Pick 3 and Pick 4 will both have a 50-cent minimum, while the Classix, a

Pick 6 wager, is going from $2 to $1.

Oaklawn offers a competitive takeout rate of 17 percent for straight bets and

21 percent on all exotic bets. In addition, the 50-cent Pick 3s and Pick 4s,

Oaklawn also offers 50-cent Trifectas and 10-cent Superfectas along with $1

Exactas and $1 Daily Doubles. The minimum bet for straight wagers is $2.

"We looked at what other tracks are doing and listened to feedback from our

customers in putting together our 2012 wagering menu," Longinotti said. "We are

really looking forward to the start of the meet and seeing how the horseplayers

respond."

Friday's Fifth Season Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile test for older horses, marks the

four-year-old debut of Twice of Appeal, winner of the Grade 3 Sunland Derby last

year. The Jeff Bonde-trained colt has not raced since a 10th-place effort in the

Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 7.

The probable favorite in the Fifth Season is It Happened Again, hero of the

2011 Razorback Handicap and last-out winner of the Claiming Crown Jewel at Fair

Grounds. Also in the mix is the veteran Illinois-bred Racing Bran, whose biggest

win at Oaklawn occurred in the 2010 Essex Handicap.

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