As most of the country prepares for the men's and women's NCAA Tournament Final Fours, Hot Springs and Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort are preparing for the biggest spring party in the state.
The grand lady of Arkansas, thoroughbred racing, has not reached the finish line, that's four weeks from Saturday. But it has reached a place where horses ship in from all over the country in hopes of big paydays and Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks points.
Granted, the basketball games will be on, although racing should be wrapped up Saturday by the time UConn-Miami tip off in what is being considered the real championship game.
The women's semifinals begin Friday and while undefeated South Carolina is the favorite to repeat as national champion, don't think it will be sprint. While there's a chance of an all-SEC final with LSU on the other side of the bracket, Virginia Tech and Iowa are really good, too.
For Oaklawn, the annual Smarty Party -- as it has been known since 2004 when Smarty Jones won the Arkansas Derby, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness -- begins Friday with the Matron Stakes and continues into Saturday with the Fantasy, Oaklawn stakes and the Arkansas Derby.
The Temperence Hill Stakes is Sunday and over the course of the final four weeks are 13 more stakes races.
The Arkansas Derby is being run four weeks before the Kentucky Derby for the first time because that's what the trainers and owners want.
Last Sunday, 11 horses entered the Arkansas Derby and Reincarnate, third-place finisher in the Rebel Stakes, should be the favorite. He is not trained by Bob Baffert, although he was. But the Hall of Fame trainer, whose stables are in California, has turned into the stretch run of his two-year ban.
There are some really well-bred horses in the Arkansas Derby, including the locally-owned Rocket Can, who most likely will be the second-favorite. He was sired by Into Mischief from Harlan's Holiday and the dam is Tension by Tapit.
Tapit's bloodline is legendary in horse racing.
Rocket Can is owned by Frank Fletcher, of North Little Rock, who owns several automobile dealerships, the Wyndham Riverfront featuring the Riverfront Steakhouse and several other businesses.
Fletcher is basically a self-made success story who started out as a paint salesman before venturing into producing ceiling fans, mirrors and lamps, which kick-started his career.
Fletcher goes to work every day and horse racing is his main entertainment, and he and his wife Judy thoroughly enjoy it.
Since he got into racing in 1989, Fletcher has always said the one race he wants to win more than any other is the Arkansas Derby, more even than the Kentucky Derby.
The University of Arkansas graduate grew up in Tamo and attended Pine Bluff High School, where he played basketball and met Judy, who was a cheerleader.
It took Rocket Can three tries to break his maiden, but since then he's been second twice and won the Holy Bull at Gulfstream. In his last race, the Fountain of Youth, he finished second behind Forte, the 2-year-old champion who is the headliner in Saturday's Florida Derby.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, Rocket Can shipped in from Florida just for this race.
Reincarnate will be ridden by John Velazquez, one of Baffert's favorite riders, although he didn't make this assignment.
The trainers of the 11 hopefuls are all good, the jockeys are some of the best in the country and they will be celebrated by 50,000 or more who know a good time when they see it.