TODAY'S WAGERING MENU
RACE 1 $1 Daily Double, $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta
RACE 2 $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta, $.50 Pick 3 (Races 2-3-4), $.50 Pick 4 (2-3-4-5)
RACE 3 $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta, $.50 Pick 3 (Races 3-4-5)
RACE 4 $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta, $.50 Pick 3 (Races 4-5-6)
RACE 5 $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta, $.50 Pick 3 (Races 5-6-7), $.50 Pick 5 (5-6-7-8-9)
RACE 6 $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta, $.50 Pick 3 (Races 6-7-8), $.50 Pick 4 (6-7-8-9)
RACE 7 $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta, $.50 Pick 3 (Races 7-8-9)
RACE 8 $1 Late double, $1 Exacta,
RACE 9 $1 Exacta, $.50 Trifecta, $.10 Superfecta
TODAY'S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE
11:20 a.m. Aqueduct; 11:30 a.m. Laurel Park; 11:35 a.m. Gulfstream Park; 2:45 p.m. Golden Gate; 3 p.m. Santa Anita; 5 p.m. Fair Grounds; 5 p.m. Penn National; 5:15 p.m. Turfway Park; 5:40 p.m. Delta Downs; 6 p.m. Charles Town; 6 p.m. Palm Beach (G); 6:25 p.m. Daytona Beach (G); 8:30 p.m. Southland (G); 9 p.m. Los Alamitos
SHOWING MORE
Oaklawn is offering an extra incentive for fans at the track to make show bets this season. Takeout on show wagers made at the track will be reduced from 17 percent to 10 percent. This means the payoff on show wagers made at Oaklawn will be higher than the payoff on the same show wager made off-track or through ADW services. Fans will be able to follow the Show Bet Bonus throughout the race day on a special display that will appear on the tote boards and will be shown on in-house TVs. The display will indicate the higher payout on every winning show wager made at Oaklawn. Show wagering makes up more than 12 percent of on-track wagers in a typical season.
UNITED TOTE
Oaklawn, which is partnering with United Tote for the first time, has tote boards that allow for 14 betting interests, two more than in the past. Oaklawn will take up to 14 entrants, but with the exception of stakes races, the 13 and 14 will be also eligibles and will draw into the body of the race only if there is a scratch.
SMARTY JONES
The $150,000 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds set for Monday drew a field of eight. One of the entrants, Romeo O Romeo, is cross-entered in a Saturday allowance at Oaklawn. The field from the rail with riders: 1. Petrov, Jose Ortiz; 2. Warrior's Club, Robby Albarado; 3. Cu Rahy, Glenn Corbett; 4. Rowdy the Warrior, Luis Quinonez; 5. Unbridled Eagle, Ramon Vazquez; 6. Uncontested, Channing Hill; 7. Romeo O Romeo, Chris Landeros; 8. Love That Lute, Alex Birzer.
RICH GUY
Multiple-stakes winner Smack Smack, the 3-1 program favorite for today's featured $125,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn, will go over $1 million in career earnings with a victory in the 1 1/16-mile race for older horses.
Smack Smack is trained by Don Von Hemel of Hot Springs and owned by country music star Toby Keith, who is the breeder for the 6-year-old Closing Argument gelding.
A victory in the Fifth Season would give Von Hemel, 82, his first millionaire in 60 years of training.
Von Hemel, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 1981, is credited with 2,516 victories since 1956, according to Equibase, racing's official data-gathering organization.
Smack Smack ($930,430) will run in the eighth race with a 3:49 p.m. post.
"He's training good," Von Hemel said. "That's my objective -- get him over $1 million at this meet, plus win some other races, too."
Shane Laviolette has the mount on Smack Smack, who is scheduled to break from post 6 and carry equal top weight of 122 pounds. Laviolette guided Smack Smack to his biggest career victory to date in the Grade III $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap on July 2 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.
Smack Smack finished second to Code West in the $150,000 Zia Park Championship Handicap on Nov. 23 at Zia Park in New Mexico. Code West, a front-running 1½-length winner in that race, is the early 5-1 third choice for the Fifth Season.
Trained by Boyd Caster, Code West finished fifth, beaten 2¼ lengths by Smack Smack, in the Cornhusker Handicap. Code West ran second in the 2015 Fifth Season.
Also entered are Discreetness, Cutacorner, Pinson, For Greater Glory, Inside Straight, Chief of Staff, Domain's Rap and millionaire Mr. Z.
Mr. Z was one of Oaklawn's leading 3-year-olds in 2015 -- third-place finishes in the $150,000 Smarty Jones, $300,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) and $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) -- but is winless in his past eight starts for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
"He's training pretty darn good here," Lukas said. "He likes this surface. I look for him to run really well."
EXTRA INCENTIVES
The Arkansas Thoroughbred Breeders' and Horsemen's Association will award purse supplements to the owners of a registered Arkansas-bred who runs first, second or third in an open company race in 2017, according to an announcement Wednesday. The incentive is not available for stakes races. An incentive of $4,000 will be paid for a first-place finish by a registered Arkansas-bred in open company. An incentive of $2,000 will be paid for a second-place finish, and an incentive of $1,000 for third. "The purpose of this purse supplement is to offer incentive for Arkansas-breds to make more starts in open company races and to add interest in owning Arkansas-breds," Bill McDowell, president of the ATBHA, said in a news release. "We've had a similar incentive in place the last two years, but that was only for horses that won against open company. We're excited that increased funding from the gaming at Oaklawn has allowed us to increase the amount of this supplement and also make it available to horses that finish second or third."
FINAL FURLONG
• Calvin Borel, who went into retirement with less than three weeks to go in the 2016 Oaklawn season, resumed his career in August at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., and finished 2016 with 20 victories from 236 mounts, with 13 of those winners coming after his return to racing. Borel, who won seven races in 79 starts last season at Oaklawn, has five mounts on today's card. He enters today with 5,159 career victories from 35,072 starts with purse earnings of $127,706,398. ... Fans who attend opening day may note new digital display boards, 74 new box seats and a new wagering opportunity, the Pick 5, which covers races 5-9.
Information for this report contributed by Oaklawn media department reports and Daily Racing Form
Sports on 01/13/2017