Oaklawn President Charles J. Cella announced Wednesday that the horse racing track in Hot Springs is waiving its $2 general admission fee for the 2015 live racing season.
Cella said offering free admission is Oaklawn's way of showing thanks to patrons for their support of thoroughbred racing, particularly during an expansion project that began 18 months ago. Construction is expected to finish by late December, days before live racing is set to begin Jan. 9 at the track.
"It's been tough for our customers, our staff and our horsemen to put up with the last 18 months," General Manager Eric Jackson said.
"Trying to operate while doing major construction is never easy and always a challenge," Cella, the track's president since 1968, said in a news release. "We wanted to do something to express our appreciation, and we felt this gesture would be a good way to simply and sincerely say thank you."
Waiving admission fees also helps Oaklawn avoid a potential conflict with Issue 3, which Arkansas voters approved in November. The ballot issue amended the Arkansas Constitution to prohibit "legislators and constitutional officers from accepting gifts from lobbyists" and "candidates for public office from accepting campaign contributions from corporations."
Admission passes have long been a tradition at Oaklawn, and as the track's reputation grew in the 1970s with higher purses and expansion the passes became a status symbol often bestowed by politicians to their constituents.
The track has distributed about 59,000 passes per year, Jackson said, most granting free admission throughout the January-to-April season and others for only one day.
"We were heading this way before [Issue 3] muddied the water enough for us to make this decision," the general manager said.
Jackson said offering free admission during the 2015 live season "just made good sense" considering the track offers free admission the rest of the year during Oaklawn's simulcast season.
"All we can say is that we're not going to have passes in 2015, and that we'll have to look beyond that," Jackson said.
-- The Sentinel-Record
SOCCER
OBU's Hatcher named All-American
Ouachita Baptist junior Haley Hatcher was named to the Daktronics/Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-America third team Wednesday.
Hatcher, from Maumelle, is the first women's soccer player from the Great American Conference to be named to the All-America team. She also was selected to the Division II All-Central region first team.
Hatcher led the GAC and finished seventh nationally with 17 goals. Her 19 goals during the 2013 season is a GAC record and her 36 career goals are also a conference record.
Sports on 12/11/2014