Louis Cella

Oaklawn Park will support a new purse incentive designed to reward horsemen who support the track for the remainder of the 2025-2026 racing season, Oaklawn announced Saturday. Beginning with Condition Book 4 released March 19, 2026, the incentive will apply to the 25 remaining scheduled race days of the meet and, per the release, "will reward races that attract larger fields." Under the new structure, Allowance and Maiden Special Weight races will receive an additional $5,000 in purse money for each official starter above nine betting interests, except for stake...

The $1.25 million GI Apple Blossom Handicap has joined the roster of prestigious North American races for the 2026 Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, Breeders' Cup Limited and Oaklawn Park said in a joint release on Thursday. The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is an international series of stakes races, the winners of which receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race at the 2026 Breeders' Cup World Championships, scheduled to be held Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky. Offering an automatic...

Oaklawn Park welcomed a total attendance of 104,250, hosted average Saturday crowds of more than 13,000, featured 132 races--including 15 stakes races over 13 race days--and had an average field size of 9.78 horses per race during it's new Holiday Meet, the Hot Springs track said in a Tuesday press release. "The Holiday Meet delivered exactly what we strive for at Oaklawn--great racing, strong fan engagement, and meaningful momentum," said Louis A. Cella, President of Oaklawn. "The competitiveness of our fields and the enthusiasm from both on-track and off-track players...

Two of the most prominent figures in Oaklawn history, executive Louis Cella and the late trainer D. Wayne Lukas, will be part of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame's 2026 class, the ASHOF's 68th overall. "How about that?" Cella said. "That was a little shot out of the dark that surprised me, but I was very honored. A little bit over my skis. But when you're in a category with D. Wayne Lukas, you have to check your pulse and see what the hell is going on." Cella has been...

Oaklawn Hot Springs will feature a trio of significant updates to its wagering menu for the upcoming 2025-2026 live racing season, highlighted by two new low-takeout bets and the return of a fan-favorite multi-race wager, the track announced Tuesday. Starting on Opening Day, Oaklawn will launch two new wagers featuring a reduced 15% takeout, one of the lowest rates in North America, to offer greater value to customers. Each race day will conclude with a new "Get Out Pick 3", featuring a $3 base wager covering the final three races...

Oaklawn Park will host a pair of major live horseplayer contests to be held during Southwest Stakes Weekend in 2026, the track announced Friday. The new events, the Southwest Showdown on Saturday, Jan. 31, and the Oaklawn Horseplayer Championship on Sunday, Feb. 1, will bring together top horseplayers from across the country to Oaklawn for a high-stakes competition offering Last Chance/First Chance seats to the 2026 or 2027 National Horseplayers Championship (NHC), 2026 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC), and cash prizes. "We are excited to introduce a marquee horseplayer contest...

Zack Gillham has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Racing and Wagering at Oaklawn Park, officials at the Hot Springs, Arkansas, racetrack said in a release on Thursday. Jason Milligan will also transition from his current role to assume the position of the Director of Racing. Gillham, who has been with Oaklawn for over eight years, will oversee all aspects of racing and sports wagering operations at the track. He was most recently employed as the Executive Director of Wagering, where he played a key role in...

The GII Fantasy Stakes will be worth $1 million when it is run next year at Oaklawn Park, while the purse for the Arkansas track's GIII Honeybee Stakes will be increased for the second consecutive time, from $500,000 to $750,000 in 2026. "The increase to our Fantasy Stakes by itself makes a very strong statement," Oaklawn's President Louis A. Cella said. "This will be the first time in the history of North American racing that 3-year-old fillies will have an opportunity to run for a seven-figure purse prior to the...

Twenty-four hours after the news of his passing of Hall of Trainer D. Wayne Lukas was made public, the tributes for the late conditioner continued to flow in on Monday from industry participants:   The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is saddened by the passing of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who was inducted into the Hall in 1999. Wayne was one of racing's most iconic figures and his achievements and impact on the sport have been nothing short of remarkable. His passion for racing...

Oaklawn will dramatically alter its 2025-2026 racing schedule, moving to more four-day weeks while greatly reducing its January footprint, after its request for 64 racing dates (Dec. 12-May 2), was unanimously approved by the Arkansas Racing Commission Thursday morning in Little Rock, the track said in a press release on Thursday. Oaklawn will open a week later and again close Kentucky Derby Day. The Hot Springs oval is scheduled to race nine days in December--Friday, Saturday and Sunday--before its first of 10 scheduled four-day race weeks (Jan. 1-4). Expanded race...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.--The idea was a simple one. Place a bell in the Larry Snyder Winner's Circle at Oaklawn and any winning owner, trainer or jockey who wants to make a $100 donation to the Arkansas Thoroughbred Retirement Program and Rehabilitation Foundation gets to ring it. The 'Ring the Bell' seed was planted at an Arkansas Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) meeting over four years ago when trainer and board member Ron Moquett posed the idea as he is prone to do. "Ron [Moquett] has about 10 ideas every...

A new children's book set against the backdrop of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, has been released. Ollie the Oaklawn Owl: Whoooo's That Jockey? is the second book in an educational series written by Mary Rampellini of Daily Racing Form. The work is illustrated by retired jockey and award-winning artist Renee Torbit. In his latest adventure, main character Ollie learns about the courage it takes to ride racehorses, the equipment jockeys wear, and why racing silks are different colors. "Mary's books provide our youth a great tool to better...