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WALLY HALL: Most warm to idea of later racing schedule

HOT SPRINGS -- A larger-than-usual crowd had gathered by noon on the first floor of Oaklawn Park.

The scheduled time of the draw for the Arkansas Derby was 12:15, and while it always attracts a few dozen, Wednesday was a couple of hundred people deep as it already had been released that Oaklawn would make a major announcement.

There was genuine excitement in the crowd. It wasn't a secret that the announcement would be about the racing dates for next year, but no one knew exactly what.

The Racing Commission had finished its meeting downstairs, a quorum reached minutes before the meeting started, and a few members made their way up the stairs for the unveiling of an unprecedented move in the 115-year history of Oaklawn Park.

Next year's meet will start Jan. 25, and 57 racing days will end on the same day as the Kentucky Derby, three weeks later than usual.

Circle your calendar, because May 4, 2019, will be another Smarty Party Saturday, like in 2004 when Smarty Jones fans came to Oaklawn to see "their" horse -- winner of the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby -- run for the roses. He thrilled the thousands that day with his victory.

The Arkansas Derby still will run three weeks before the Kentucky Derby.

Instead of getting iced out of racing in January -- 12 days in the last five years -- Oaklawn will start later in the month and run in the deep spring just before the Natural State warms into summer.

Oaklawn President Louis Cella, after a video presentation, pointed out all the positives of moving the end of the race meet into May, and much of it had to do with the racing fans who come to Oaklawn.

The infield will open more often, and that has become a place for families to enjoy the outdoors and activities as well as the races. That helps the whole community.

The Racing Commission and the Arkansas division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protection Association both voted unanimously to approve the change in dates.

"We would never have made this decision without talking to numerous trainers and owners," Cella said. "As a whole, they liked the idea."

No doubt there will be some who don't like it. That's the thing about change, some always resist.

Even some of the other tracks that normally open around the time Oaklawn closes may not be happy, but the purse structure in Oaklawn and the regular increases in those purses make it hard to compete.

This actually could come as a relief for those who usually leave Oaklawn and head to Churchill Downs where they have to endure the week or so of the two biggest racing days of the meet, the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.

Most trainers and owners aren't part of those two days. All the shippers from around the country, and the visiting trainers and owners, actually get in the way of the regular racing.

After those two days, the biggest moneymakers for Churchill, the track immediately goes to a normal pace. Barn space is no longer reserved for the millionaires, but for those who work the hardest year round.

A change in Oaklawn's dates was well received, and even those not happy mostly kept it to themselves.

Moving racing from the chills of January to the softness of spring was probably long over due, but if for some reason it turns out not to be best for Oaklawn, its patrons, this city, and the trainers, riders and owners, Oaklawn could reconsider.

This is a change that comes after much thought and numerous conversations, and it was decided it accommodated almost everyone.

Sports on 04/12/2018

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