A glorious spring day in Arkansas.
Other states may have great days but even with rain in the forecast Saturday, it was a tremendous day with everything from the Arkansas Razorbacks to racing at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.
Arkansas State had its spring game and Fayetteville was a Hog smorgasbord.
The day in Fayetteville stated with Hogtown at 10 a.m. and then came football, softball, soccer and baseball all in one day.
If Eric Musselman wasn't busy watching the coming and goings in the portal, he might have arranged a skins and shirts game.
Down in Hot Springs ,racing continued with a dozen races of good quality horses.
In 2020 with covid raging and the Kentucky Derby postponed, Oaklawn CEO Louis Cella made the decision to run the Arkansas Derby on the first Saturday in May, normally reserved for the Kentucky Derby, because he felt the world of racing needed a Derby.
The next year he went back to running his Derby three weeks before the Run for the Roses. But he liked the spring dates and he kept them with the blessing of the Racing Commission.
This year's Arkansas Derby ran four weeks before the Kentucky Derby, but that was to avoid Easter weekend.
When the decision was made to be more of a spring meet than a freezing winter one, there was some concern about horses leaving for Keeneland.
Well, Keeneland is doing fine and so is Oaklawn, which averaged more than 10 entries for its non-stakes races Saturday and the purses for those races totaled almost $500,000.
The Count Fleet Handicap, a Grade III sprint for older horses, had a total purse of $500,000 and drew a field of 10 contenders.
The Apple Blossom. a Grade I route race for fillies and mares, had a $1 million purse, and one might have thought that would have enticed more of the 17 who were nominated earlier this season.
Only three dared to take on Secret Oath, who won two big races here last year before taking on colts in the Arkansas Derby, where she finished third.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas moved her back to running against females and she won the Kentucky Oaks by two lengths.
In her last outing after laying off since November, she won the Azeri Stakes easily against seven foes.
Basically it looked like a match race between Secret Oath and Clairiere, and the only surprise in the race came in the last stride at the finish line.
As expected, Hot and Sultry set the pace but with some pedestrian fractions hoping to have enough to hold off the two big runners down the stretch.
Secret Oath went from five lengths back to taking the leading at the head of the stretch where Joel Rosario, one of the greatest jockeys in the world, asked Clairiere to run and she did, catching Secret Oath at the wire.
Maybe it was a mild upset in the Count Fleet when Skelly was overlooked because of odds-on favorite Tejano Twist and shipper Strobe dominated the wagering, letting Skelly get off at 6-1, his longest odds since his first race as a maiden.
Skelly, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, had just won an optional claiming race by more than four lengths and went wire-to-wire, setting sizzling fractions for jockey Ricardo Santana but never backing up as he won rather easily with Strobe, who trains and has been running at the Fair Grouds, taking second and Tejano Twist third.
Skelly returned $14 on a $2 wager.
A $25,000 buy as a 2-year-old Skelly, his connections picked up $300,000 putting his career earnings at more than $500,000 in just eight races, six of those wins.