Oaklawn Park

Arkansas lumberman John Ed Anthony reached 300 career wins at Oaklawn Park when favored Brunia (Tekton) broke her maiden in the 10th and final race on Friday's 2025-2026 opening day card, a press release from the track said on Saturday. Brunia, an Arkansas homebred for Anthony's Shortleaf Stable, is trained by Lindsay Schultz. Anthony, 86, reached 299 career Oaklawn victories last March when 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Quietside (Malibu Moon) captured the GII Fantasy Stakes. The Fantasy was also Anthony's record 40th career Oaklawn stakes victory. The late...

Grade I winner Sandman (Tapit) posted his first work at Oaklawn Park Friday morning a week after arriving on grounds in advance of his 4-year-old debut in February. The GI Arkansas Derby hero went an easy half-mile in :49 flat, the 19th fastest of 73 at the distance, under exercise rider Autumn Lavertu over a fast track following the first surface renovation break. Clockers had his splits as an opening quarter in :25 and :36.80 for three furlongs. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02. "Just have an easy half...

The lone first-starter in a field of seven, Authentic Cat (Authentic) loaded as the 63-10 fourth choice in the wagering in the season opener at Oaklawn Park and was off to an uneventful beginning before settling in clear air in fifth as the top four were reasonably well-grouped up ahead. Patiently handled through the middle furlongs by Manny Esquivel, the gray filly made inside progress on the turn and into the stretch, came out to challenge in the two path in upper stretch and finished powerfully to graduate by 5...

7th-OP, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 4:22 p.m. ET. Set for her unveiling is SANGARETTE (Charlatan), a 2-year-old who was purchased for $500,000 by Tom Durant during the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale last year and sent to trainer Ray Ashford. The filly's dam, GISP Sweet Shirley Mae (Broken Vow), produced SW Mae Never No (Ire) (No Nay Never). Sangarette's extended female family includes GSW Chaos Theory (Curlin). Also making the starting gate on opening day of the Oaklawn meet is Don Alberto homebred Eagle Dance (Audible). Trained by Brad Cox,...

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...

Gary Stevens, the retired Hall of Fame jockey turned jockey agent, said he has purchased a home near Oaklawn previously owned by the late Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas and his wife, Laurie, the track said via a press release on Wednesday. "Laurie wanted me to have it," Stevens said. "She said she had some other offers and she said: 'You need to be in that house.' She made it happen." Stevens said the house is more than 80 years old, adding it's "very homey, very warm." Lukas...

Edited Press Release Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse returned to Oaklawn Park last season, winning nine races--a single-season personal best in Hot Springs--led by GI Arkansas Derby hero Sandman (Tapit). Casse could make an even bigger impact during the coming split meets because several of his most prominent horses will ship for Oaklawn's 64-day season that begins Dec. 12. The trainer, who received 25 stalls, already has horses on the grounds. "They'll come in stages," Casse said from his Florida base on Thursday. "But we're going to bring our...

Everett Dobson, the chair of The Jockey Club of America, will deliver the keynote address at the annual National HBPA Conference hosted by Oaklawn Park Mar. 4, according to a press release from the horsemen's organization on Wednesday. Dobson is a telecommunications entrepreneur from Oklahoma City who is a horse owner/ breeder and partner in the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. "I'm very honored to get a chance to address the National HBPA. I'm very much looking forward to it," Dobson said. "It will largely be around a message...

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...

Banishing (Ghostzapper) spoiled a bid by Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) to win the GII Charles Town Classic for the third year in a row when he successfully shipped in for West Virginia's biggest night at the races on Friday. The veteran who is co-owned by trainer David Jacobson scored his biggest triumph in the GIII Oaklawn Mile in Hot Springs Mar. 29 when he dueled and then defeated GISW Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming). Banishing was bested by First Mission (Street Sense) in the GII Oaklawn Handicap the next month, but he did...

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...

I knew it was coming, but that doesn't dull the sadness. I posted online last week that I was sad about the news D. Wayne Lukas had been put in hospice care and retired from training, but it's complicated to explain why I feel so profoundly sad about the passing of a man that I'd only spoken with a few times briefly in my life. A lot of it has to do with a connection I had with my dad that he unknowingly helped fuel many times over more than...