HOT SPRINGS -- The typical offseason talk at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort came to a sudden stop last summer.
A July 6 news release from the racetrack's media office introduced a change as meaningful as any since horses first raced there in 1904. It began with this: "In yet another historic move for the 117-year-old track, Oaklawn will now add December race dates to its calendar and host a 66-day season from Friday, Dec. 3, 2021--Sunday, May 8, 2022."
That announcement has since changed the topic of nearly every conversation about racing at Oaklawn.
Horses, horsemen, fans, racetrack personnel, and employees will soon begin a season of 66 racing days to stretch over approximately five months for the first time since racing at Oaklawn began. The 2021-22 Oaklawn racing meet is scheduled to start Friday.
Oaklawn President Louis Cella said racing at his track has excelled through a decline of the sport across North America. He said he hopes this significant change will add to Oaklawn's relative success.
"We're excelling," Cella said. "We're expanding. We're putting a ton of money back into racing. It's also going into the casino side, but it's in the whole venue, and it's in the racing venue. Because of that, I think it really resonates with all of our fans and employees, staff, our team members, horsemen, and, frankly, owners. They're saying, 'Look at that gem in Hot Springs. Let's go there. That looks like it's fun.' "
Approval from horsemen arrived in an instant. Indeed, 11-time Oaklawn training champion Steve Asmussen was quoted in the July 6 release: "I love it," said Asmussen, a member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. "The more Oaklawn, the better."
Comments like Asmussen's have not stopped. Robertino Diodoro, Oaklawn's training champion in 2020, spoke of it Saturday.
"I really hope for everyone it works out because I love it," he said. "Financially, for the owners and others, the seven-week break was too long. It's different if a guy only has one or two horses, but you got guys that own six or seven horses and come over here and sit for seven or eight weeks, and that's if you race the last week at Churchill and the first week at Oaklawn. The bills start adding up. If there's not a race for you the first few days at Oaklawn or the last few days at Churchill, all the sudden seven weeks turns into nine and ten weeks, and you're just sitting there with the bills coming in.
"I love what they've done. The forecast looks great, so hopefully, we're going to run into some real nice weather in the first part of the meet. I think, all around, I think it's awesome."
For Oaklawn's 2019-21 seasons, shippers from Kentucky had to wait seven weeks for a return to regular racing. That wait has been reduced to five days for the 2021-22 season.
Diodoro has finished no further back than second in Oaklawn's trainer standings since 2017. He, like many Oaklawn horsemen, has made Hot Springs his home. Trainer Ron Moquett is among them, and his pleasure in Oaklawn's new extended season was clear from the start. A month earlier, when the possibility of an expanded season was first made public by the racetrack, Moquett said he approved.
"Me, being a fan of Oaklawn, if they would be able to do it, we look forward to being at Oaklawn," Moquett said on June 5. "It would be an exciting time for any horseman who likes to be here. We would be tickled to death. It would be a great time for us who originate from around this area. If you told me I could run at Oaklawn or another spot, me being a homeboy, I would choose Oaklawn every time."
Thus far, at least from his perspective, Moquett has found but one flaw in the schedule change. He said the effort involved in moving an entire stable from one racetrack to another in less than a week required a major adjustment from past seasons.
"One of the things some people didn't take into account was the time of the year for transportation," Moquett said. "We get these horses down here lots of times on 18-wheelers. There's only so many of them and so many drivers, and we're now shipping out of Kentucky at the same time as people are shipping out of there towards Florida and New Orleans. Last year, there was no problem for us when we got ready to come to Oaklawn, but that's just normal stuff. You have to work with all the different logistics."
In the long run, Moquett said he is confident the new season and the added days of racing will work well for his stable.
"We're ready," Moquett said. "It's a good deal for everybody involved, but like anytime you do something new, there's going to be some things that have to be worked out. There's going to be some bugs and glitches, but overall, it's going to be overwhelmingly good for everyone involved."
Jockey Florent Geroux will return to Hot Springs this season as trainer Brad Cox's top rider. Geroux, fifth in riding wins at Oaklawn last season, said he was concerned by at least one byproduct of the schedule change, which will, with occasional exceptions, reduce racing days in a week from four to three.
"I like the [schedule change]," Geroux said. "I just feel like three days a week is a little bit light for us horsemen, but we'll see how it goes. I think it's more for [Oaklawn] to see how it's going to work. You won't know until you do it, depending on how much handle they can have and stuff like that. Maybe it's going to mean more profit for them, or maybe it's not, but we'll see."
Other Oaklawn jockeys and regular riders from the track's past have shared Geroux's concern. Cella said increased purses should help to overcome it, but he said it is among many potential unforeseen circumstances of this change that will ultimately decide its fate.
"We told our horsemen and the racing commission, on paper, this change makes sense," he said. "On paper, after the Churchill season, it's us, Fair Grounds, and a couple of others. Our purses are so high, the highest in the nation. A minimum purse of $25,000, maidens at $84,000, allowances at a hundred-thousand dollars and up. We're giving away purses of $700,000 or more a day. We're the top guy at this time of year, so on paper, it ought to work out. On paper, the horsemen should come, and when you have quality horses, the fans should come.
"It's new to us, so we'll see. It's an experiment for all of us, just like Stay Until May, which did work out. We're hopeful this works out because if it does, I think it's something special for the racing industry to look at."
Though Cella said it came as an afterthought for him, horsemen and racing fans have expressed excitement for a return of 2-year-old horses to Oaklawn racing's month of December. There have been rare occasions for it in the track's past, including an anomalous World War II adjustment in 1945, when in allegiance to allied military efforts across most of the world, Oaklawn moved that year's 30-day season from the spring to late fall.
Next month will become the first December of horse racing in Arkansas within memory's reach for most horsemen and fans.
Opening day of the 2021-22 season at Oaklawn will include at least one sprint for two-year-old horses. The $150,000 6-furlong Advent Stakes will serve as the day's feature race and perhaps as an early preparatory race for a season full of races for 3-year-old horses, including the Arkansas Derby.
A December of races for 2-year-olds should serve as an asset for all involved, including trainers, jockeys, owners, and fans.
"[I'm] definitely [excited about 2-year-old racing at Oaklawn]," Diodoro said. "I think a lot of guys laid off some of them just to let them mature a little bit more and give them a little more time to save them for Oaklawn. I think it's great."