Oaklawn
 

The live meet opens this Friday, and as a Little Rock resident I cant wait. Its the only time of year I usually get to see live racing. And Hot Springs in the Spring is a nice place to be. Purses are up (and will only go higher with the addition of "electronic games of skill"), and the barns are full. I'm really only a lurker on this site, but have learned a ton. I noticed in an article on DRF that Chuck will have a stable at Oaklawn this year. Chuck any horses I should keep my eye on? Any of the Dee Tee stable horses coming here to run?

Sumwonlovesyou was to be there but got hurt and soon will be rehabing at chuck's farm. Kickin N Screamin is in tampa.

Richwood Silver....

YES! ;)

The headline in the DRF states the barns are "near capacity". It seems to me I have heard this before only to find steady card of seven horse fields. Last year's meet is a prime example. Let's hope this year is different.

last year fairgrounds was back up and running, so some that are stabled there may not run there.
but oaklawn seems to be getting more attention and more applications for stall space. thanfully games of skill have allowed oaklawn to keep pace with purse hikes in louisiana.

When they expand the gaming room after this season I just hope that Oaklawn doesn't take the turn to favoring Racino over racing. The slots breathed life back into Remington but the track attendance was very weak while the slots were humming on the other end of the grandstand.:confused:

Is it going to be an expansion, or a separate building? I hope its not attached to main building now.

cella is very committed to the racing part of the deal. i don't think it's his mindset to favor the racino, but he did it in order to compete, and remain viable. he's doing a great job keeping oaklawn going well, not just going.

it is part of the main building. but it's certainly not the first thing you see when you walk in the door. it's on one end, on the bottom floor. there really isn't a lot of room to expand--track is on the main drag, not a lot of lateral movement available.

i think the complete lack of otbs helps. daily attendance at oaklawn generally is better than the larger tracks on regular days.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/91622.html

knew i had seen an article about oaklawn, expanding, and the record purses for this year.

I may be wrong, but for some reason I thought Oaklawn had some strange claiming rules and a large number of horses got stuck in "jail" and ended up being shipped to Texas or LA to run... Did they make any revisions to these rules to try and keep field sizes up?

I think Oaklawn has done a great job with the racino, while keeping the racetrack at the forefront. Unlike other venues, you still walk into a racetrack and you actually have to look for the casino. (If you walk in the south entrance, your practically in the paddock.) Alot of other tracks I've been to have it the other way round, and you wouldn't even know they have a track.

Agreed. I went for the first time last year, had a blast.

To me, this is one of the tougher tracks to handicap. Have no idea why. I've been lucky enough to catch Theriot on some square prices, looking for the same results this year.
Does anyone else find this track to be tougher to cap? Or is it just me.

They do an excellent job of changing up the surface. When you think you have the bias down, the next day it's different. Some would say that there is really very little track bias, but I have seen a sizzling rail go deep overnight and going four wide at the top of the stretch work for the deep closers. I really thought this might have been Mario Pino's strategy on Hard Spun only to go wide in last year's Southwest Stakes because the four and five hole were hot the days before. Tueflesburg closes inside to win. Hard Spun ships out.
Key Luis Q. or Calvin Bo-Rail in your exotics.:eek:

long article in the paper today about the track surface. there were quite a few complaints about the surface last year, and they really put a lot of work into it. made sure that the mix was proper (x amount of sand, clay, etc) and test it constantly. been a project since the season ended last april. they said the track is the same mix as churchill and belmont. all three incredibly similar according to the article.
they also said that some of the problems were caused by trying to keep the track open on some days that it probably shouldn't have been, and that it will not happen this year. unlike some tracks, they do not spray chemicals on the surface here to combat freezing, due to runoff/environmental concerns.

we made reservations today, will be in hot springs the wknd of march 21 for anniversary #22.
will be contacting oaklawn tomorrow for carousel tix. can't wait!

In recent years, they seem to be taking the maintenance of the track surface a lot more seriously. I can remember going by the track in the summer and the track would be full of tall weeds, but you don't see that anymore. I think they maintain it year round now. Something strange I have noticed is that the track appears pink or reddish on TV, but when you're there at the track, it's really a sandy light brown or beige color. I guess TV doesn't duplicate colors as naturally as I had thought.

they said the 'bounce is back'. from what i read, they are very, very pleased with the results from all the hard work.


anyone going tomorrow, enjoy!!!

holy crap.

had to wait til oaklawn opened today to arrange two carousel tix for march 22.

had to wait forever for an operator, and then didn't get very good seats (we wanted as close to the glass as possible, but now we must settle for closer to the buffet and bar). but at least we got seats! we usually just hang out on the apron but when we go for this certain wknd, we do the carousel.

anyway, point being, if you want special seating for the season, esp on a wknd, you better get on the phone.