Honoring the host city, where one finds the only thoroughbred racing in Arkansas, the Hot Springs Stakes returns to the Oaklawn schedule in 2023.
The 68-day stand, with 45 stakes, nine new, begins Friday, Dec. 9. Preliminary purses are an all-time high of $13.75 million for stakes and $50 million overall, both track records.
Announcing the schedule Thursday, track President Louis Cella said the early start results in expansion of the stakes program.
"We were pleased with how December racing was received last year," he said in a release. "Now, we're going to use our stakes schedule to build on that momentum."
Renamed last year for the retired champion Whitmore, the Hot Springs, carrying a $200,000 purse, is one of four stakes on the Arkansas Derby card, Saturday, April 1. Formerly a sprint, one won four straight years (2017-20) by Whitmore, the Hot Springs has been changed from six furlongs to one mile. The Grade 3 $200,000 Whitmore, honoring the gelding trained by native Arkansan Ron Moquett, remains on the schedule March 18 at six furlongs.
The meet features four $1 million races, two of them Grade 1, the highest rank. The Grade 1 Arkansas Derby April 1 is $1.25 million, same pot as on April 2 this year, when Cyberknife, trained by Brad Cox, won the nine-furlong race for 3-year-olds. Dating to 1936, when Holl Image prevailed for a $5,000 purse, the Derby this year has produced winners of two other Grade 1s, Cyberknife in the Haskell last weekend and third-place finisher Secret Oath, a filly, the Kentucky Oaks May 6.
The Arkansas Derby has a $1 million Grade 2 prep in the Rebel, one of three stakes listed Feb. 25. The Rebel's most famous winners include Triple Crown champion American Pharoah (2015) and two-time Horse of the Year Curlin (2007).
Older horses take the spotlight in the Grade 1 $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap, April 15 for fillies and mares, and the Grade 2 $1 million Oaklawn Handicap, April 22 for males. Both are nine furlongs, champion racemare Letruska winning the Apple Blossom the last two years. Respective preps are the Grade 2 $350,000 Azeri March 11, named for the only three-time winner of the mile-and-sixteenth Apple Blossom, following the Grade 3 $600,000 Razorback Handicap Feb. 18 for males. Champion filly-and-mare sprinter Ce Ce won the mile-and-sixteenth Azeri this year and Arkansas-owned Last Samurai took the nine-furlong Oaklawn Handicap.
Oaklawn's 3-year-old schedule fittingly begins Jan. 1, the date that North American-foaled horses age by one year, with the $250,000 Smarty Jones mile. The race honors the 2004 Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, all while unbeaten, Oaklawn's centennial year of racing. Second in the Belmont Stakes, his only defeat, Smarty Jones received a $5-million bonus for a three-race sweep including the Arkansas and Kentucky derbies.
A pair of mile-and-sixteenth races, the Grade 3 $750,000 Southwest Jan. 28 and the Rebel complete Oaklawn's traditional graded qualifiers for the Kentucky Derby, whose 149th running is Saturday, May 6 at Louisville's Churchill Downs. Newgrange, trained by Bob Baffert, won the Southwest and Un Ojo, a 75-1 longshot, the Rebel, at the 2021-22 Oaklawn meeting, which ran from Dec. 3-May 8.
The Ring the Bell, for filly-and-mare sprinters Dec. 10, and the Renaissance and Year's End (fillies), both for 2-year-olds Dec. 31, are $150,000 additions. Back for their second year, all at $150,000, are the Advent Dec. 9, the Mistletoe Dec. 10 and the Poinsettia and Tinsel Dec. 17.
New to the schedule are the $250,000 Matron March 31 and four late-season races honoring local and statewide tourist treasures. The Valley of the Vapors is April 22, the Dig a Diamond April 29 and, on the track's closing weekend, the Lake Ouachita May 5 and the Lake Hamilton May 6, all at $150,000.
Other highlights include the $200,000 Martha Washington Jan. 28, the Grade 3 $300,000 Honeybee Feb. 25 and the Grade 3 $600,000 Fantasy April 1 for 3-year-old fillies. Secret Oath, trained by Wayne Lukas, won the first two legs this year before passing on the Fantasy to face males in the Arkansas Derby.
Five Arkansas-bred stakes are $150,000 with the May 4 Arkansas Breeders' Championship at $200,000. State-bred are showcased in the Rainbow and Rainbow Miss (fillies) April 8.