Oaklawn Countdown: 3 days

Word of mouth draws new faces to Oaklawn

FILE — Horses and jockeys break from the starting gate at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs. (Democrat-Gazette file photo)
FILE — Horses and jockeys break from the starting gate at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs. (Democrat-Gazette file photo)

HOT SPRINGS -- Positive first impressions tend to bring people back, so Oaklawn might want to reserve space for a handful of jockeys and trainers new to the racetrack this season.

Jockey Rocco Bowen said all the high praise he had heard from veteran trainer Paul Holthus, media specialist Nancy Holthus and frequent riding champion Ricardo Santana was validated shortly after he arrived this winter for his first go at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.

"They told me Hot Springs was a racing town," Bowen said. "Paul and Nancy Holthus told me you could walk down the street and they'll ask me if I'm a jockey. We've gone to dinner a couple of times since I got here, and people asked, 'Oh, is that your jockey.'

"It's nothing but warm love here from these Arkansas people. We've never been to a town like this. We feel at home."

Bowen's agent Joe Steiner felt the same.

"We feel very comfortable here," Steiner said. "There's a nice atmosphere here. It's a beautiful place to be. We're working horses and meeting people, making relationships, and enjoying the journey so far. We're looking forward to opening day, for him to get out there and show what he can do."

Trainer Saffie Joseph said he was impressed by Oaklawn enough after trips to the track the past two seasons to request barn space for this season, which is scheduled to start Friday at 12:30 p.m. with a nine-race card. The featured race is the the Smarty Jones Stakes, which is the first of four Oaklawn races to offer Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Joseph trained Grade I winner Math Wizard to a fourth-place finish in the 2019 Oaklawn Invitational.

"That was the first time I'd gone to that area," said Joseph, a Barbados native in his 11th season of U.S. racing. "It was nice. The track was a beautiful place. The town is beautiful."

Kaylee Crotchett, a frequent exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, hopes to make her riding debut early in the 2021 Oaklawn season.

"I'm really excited right now," she said. "I'm sure the day of the race, my adrenaline will get to me, my nerves, but this is something I've worked so hard for."

Crotchett, 22, was raised in Indiana -- about 25 miles north of Louisville, Ky., and Churchill Downs -- and said she has exercised racehorses since she was 16. She worked Mr. Peterkin, a 3-year-old colt for Lukas, on Jan. 10.

"Kaylee's ready to ride," Lukas said. "For two years now, I've worked on the gate with her, and she's getting away real well. She's 100 pounds. That helps.

"She sits a horse beautifully. Again, it will get down to those girls that are light like that finishing. I told her to get on that mechanical exerciser and get that finish, get strong. I'm going to put her on a couple, and I expect her to do well."

Crotchett said she had hoped to race last season, but uncertainty brought on by the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic changed her plans.

"Things have just been tough with the pandemic and everything, so I just took a step back," Crotchett said. "I came back and worked for Wayne, and he said he was going to help me. I just kind of sat still and came back here. Hopefully, things will get going, and I'll have a good meet."

Ken Tohill, 57, is no newcomer, but the veteran jockey plans to start his 43rd year as a rider at Oaklawn. He last raced there in 2014.

He will begin this season with 3,928 wins, 84th on the all-time North American career list. Tohill's goal is to reach 4,000.

"That's something I didn't think 15 years ago was even a possibility," he said. "Now, I always say I'm not quitting until after 4,000."

Joseph said he came for the obvious financial opportunities.

"The money at Oaklawn, the money there is second to none," he said. "They have competitive races. They have a good stakes program. We have those kinds of horses, and the owners said they wanted us to go there, so we felt good about it. We'll start with 15 horses and see where we go from there."

Bowen's riding career began in 2007, but an arm and shoulder injury kept him away all of 2019. He said doctors told him he would probably never race again, but he regained enough strength to win 47 of 394 starts in 2020. Bowen said his strength is back to 90%.

"I'm in it to win it," he said. "I feel so blessed to be here. Two years ago when I was on the sideline with my injury, I was really hoping I could ride here one day. Me and my agent, we thought it was time to come here and try it."

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