Racing Remembered
Longtime Oaklawn insiders reminisce about the racetrack's venerable past
— and ponder the future
By Lisa Broadwater

For most Arkansans (especially longtime residents), Oaklawn is an institution. There was a time, in fact, when box seats to the Hot Springs racetrack were so coveted they were passed on from one generation to the next — as cherished as any family heirloom. And even if you aren't a track frequenter, chances are good that you've made the trek to Oaklawn at least once, if only to see what all the hoopla was about.
But how well do you really know Oaklawn? For example, did you realize that it's the longest family-owned sports franchise in America? (Founded by the Cella family in 1905, it's currently run by co-founder Charles Cella's grandson, also named Charles.) That originally the Arkansas State Fair (which was developed in Hot Springs) was held there? That war couldn't prevent the annual race meet, but local politics did — on more than one occasion. In fact, shortly after Oaklawn opened in 1905, its meet was canceled for almost a decade, although Oaklawn continued to host the state fair (in 1910, President Roosevelt greeted a crowd of 40,000 there). Later, as Prohibition swept the country, the track was once again closed — this time for 14 years.
And it wasn't always the only game in town.
"The history of racing is kind of interesting because racing went on in Arkansas in the 1800s," explains Terry Wallace, Oaklawn's director of media relations (who has also announced every race since his arrival in 1975). "Communities would have races down Main Street. By the time Oaklawn came around, Hot Springs already had two other racing seasons here in different locations: the Hot Springs Jockey Club and Essex Park. I'm not sure where the Hot Springs Jockey Club held their races, but Essex Park was on Malvern Avenue just before the turnoff that takes you to Oaklawn [it closed in 1917 after a devastating fire]."
Those were heady days for Hot Springs.
"There were a lot of political shenanigans going on, even more so than now," Wallace says. "At first, the draw to Hot Springs was the healing waters, then they had wide-open gambling in clubs downtown. Back in the 1910s and '20s and '30s, when all the mobsters were here, it was a different world — racing was an afterthought. What brought the tourists to Hot Springs was the open gambling and the bathhouses. Oaklawn was on the outskirts of town, where the railroad and busline ended.
"I don't know when live open gambling started, but it was in place during the Al Capone era [Capone's mother-in-law, Mrs. Emil Denemark, eventually became a major Oaklawn presence — she was the leading owner of the 1940 meet; her trainer was the leading trainer and jockey the leading rider].
"But once Bobby Kennedy and the Kefauver Committee came into office, they put pressure on people to shut down operations like those that existed here, where gambling was technically against the law but everyone basically turned their head to it. In 1964, open gambling ceased to exist in Hot Springs.
"Once that happened, the only legal gambling that was allowed — and still is to this day in Arkansas — has to take place on the premises of Oaklawn Park or Southland Park [the greyhound track in West Memphis]. The difference between what they were doing and what we're doing is that what we do is regulated by the state and what those other people were doing wasn't."
Even in the days when Oaklawn was one of the top tourist destinations in the country — when major league baseball teams would do their spring training in the area, when movie stars and celebrated athletes like Babe Ruth were common sights at Oaklawn — it was never the sort of track where grandstand fans sported fancy clothes or extravagant hats.
"As best I can tell, it's never been like a Keeneland or Saratoga in that regard," Wallace says. "This has always been a bib-overall track. Before I even came here, people used to say, 'When you go there, you'll be amazed; there will be farmers in bib overalls, and they'll reach in and take out a wad of bills the size of your fist.' "
Bob Holthus, the all-time leading trainer at Oaklawn, remembers his first impression of Hot Springs.
"I came here from Lincoln, Nebraska, between Christmas and New Year's Day 1962. It was great because when I left Lincoln, it was 9 below zero and about a foot of snow; and when I got here, it was 70 degrees.
"Hot Springs was just a small town then," he adds. "I think we raced 32 days, and it was muddy 29. They worked the track with horses — they wouldn't get the tractors out when it was muddy. Even so, it was probably one of the better tracks. Back in the late '60s and early '70s, this was really first-class racing."
Terry Dunlavy had been jockeying in Florida when trainer Doug Davis brought him to Oaklawn in 1961.
"This was the outskirts of town — there wasn't hardly a building," he recalls. "In fact, there were horses stabled across the street; we used to ride across [Central Avenue].
"When I first came here, there was open gambling in town, which I think hurt the purse structure some. But once they did away with gambling, we used to get huge crowds."
Back then, Oaklawn featured 2-year-old racing, which Dunlavy excelled at.
"It was 3/8ths of a mile," he explains. "It was a little wild and woolly. It was a matter of getting going right out of the gate because if you weren't one-two when you got to the turn, you were in trouble. I was fortunate to ride for one of the leading 2-year-old trainers at that time; he was kind of King Kong around here."
Dunlavy quit riding in 1970 and returned in 1972 as a trainer and owner, building a good-size stable over the years.
"There has always been good racing here with loyal fans," he says. "It's always been a tough meet because the horsepeople come from all over the place. By the late '70s/early '80s, we were really rolling. There were big crowds every day."
Like Bob Holthus, Dr. David Jolly (who served as a track vet at Oaklawn from 1972 to 2003) headed south to escape the bitter winters — in his case, in West Virginia.
"Oaklawn in those days was beginning to build up to the crescendo they reached by 1985," he recalls.
One reason for the growth, Jolly says, was smart management.
"They did things that weren't popular at all," he says. "They cut out 2-year-old racing, which affected all the farms in the area. But that's too early in the year to run 2-year-olds, and they were green horses that weren't ready to run. And they weren't reliable horses for the public to bet on. You'd break them down.
"Management also tended to bring people from Kentucky to run the track. As a result, we had a good interplay between Oaklawn and the racing that followed in Kentucky after we were finished. For example, all the tote machines used to go from here to Keeneland. They had to leave here on a Friday afternoon and start Keeneland on a Monday. Everything was very much in step."
It helped that competition in the area was basically non-existent.
"When I first came here in the mid-'70s," Wallace recalls, "we were the only game for miles and miles around. You didn't have Louisiana Downs, Remington Park, Lone Star Park or all those casinos. The closest racetrack was the Fairgrounds in New Orleans.
"As a result, people who wanted to have a place to go to play came here. That's how we got such large attendances during the '70s and early '80s. Dallas was a huge market for us, Memphis was a huge market, Springfield and Joplin, Missouri. Up until the mid-'80s, when some of the other competition developed and when Splash Casino opened up in Tunica, we were THE place to come during this time of year.
"The only thing we didn't have that they had at Santa Anita or Gulfstream or the Fairgrounds was a turf track, because you can't grow grass effectively here in the wintertime.
"And the cost of doing business here was less than in some of those places. So it was a good place for horsemen to come — the workmen's comp costs were nowhere nearly as high, the feed costs weren't as high.
"But you sure as heck had to know where you were going to find the place. It's not like it's right off the interstate. But people did because historically people had been coming to Hot Springs for other reasons. The casino business really changed all that — when Tunica started to spring up and then Shreveport went into the business."
After years of prosperity and growth, Oaklawn stalled.
"We attributed some of the drop-off in attendance to the fact that we didn't have a whole weekend of entertainment to give people," Wallace says. "We could give them something through Saturday night and then they were out of here."
Several key changes helped turn the tide. First, the state legislature passed Act 12 in 1989, which reduced the pari-mutuel tax, permitted off-season Simulcasting (where a live race is shown via satellite, and through a track's tote system people can wager on it live) and allowed for Sunday racing, if it was approved by a public referendum, which it was.
"We were the first track to do interstate Simulcasting," Wallace says. "In 1989, we actually changed signals with Arlington Park in Chicago. Other states had done it within their own states. And although we didn't go to full-time Simulcasting until 1995, we started that world.
"The idea of instant racing was another creative idea that started here in the late '90s in concert with people from AmTote Corporation," Wallace says. "We had to see if we could figure out a way to give people the same electronic rush at a racetrack that they could get at Tunica or Shreveport or Las Vegas."
Instant racing is an electronic game that's based on historic races.
"That was the key principle of it," Wallace says, "because the racing law in Arkansas is very specific that any legal gambling has to be on horseracing, it has to be at Oaklawn and it has to be pari-mutuel — you can't establish house odds. Given the limitations of the law, the idea came up to base the results of the games of the instant racing system on the results of previously run races.
"So they gathered together this ever-growing library of previously run races from other tracks in America. Today, we have close to 70,000 races in the system. The races come up at random. You'll see the race after you make your play, but you won't know what race you're wagering on.
"This has been going since 2000, and it has grown in huge numbers because the technology has caught up to the kind of technology that existed. When you sit in the instant racing room now, it's no different a feeling than if you sat in a room in Las Vegas. Instant racing has created so much more purse money for us, and it has allowed us to stay on a more even playing field."

A First-Class Cast of Characters
Although Oaklawn's live racing as a whole may have slowed beginning in the mid-'80s, there were plenty of memorable moments during that time — many provided by one Oaklawn regular, owner John Ed Anthony. Anthony, who bought his first horse in 1972, gained national attention with a series of outstanding horses, including Cox's Ridge (who was second in the Eclipse Award to Seattle Slew as a 3-year-old in 1978), Temperence Hill (who won the Belmont Stakes, the Travers Stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup and was the 3-year-old champion in 1980), Vanlandingham (the Eclipse Award winner in '85 as a handicap horse), Demons Be Gone (who won the Arkansas Derby in 1987 and was a favorite the win the Kentucky Derby), Pine Bluff (who won the Preakness in 1992) and Prairie Bayou (who won the Preakness in 1993).
"That period was a very productive time for us; we had a lot of horses and a lot of success," Anthony acknowledges. "Of course, we've had our share of disasters along with way. Demons Be Gone was a Derby favorite and bled in the Derby — he bled right out of the gate. I have the distinction of having the only Kentucky Derby favorite that failed to finish.
"And Prairie Bayou, who in 1993 was second in the Arkansas Derby, won the Preakness and was a heavy favorite in the Belmont — a big, healthy fine colt, a son of Cox's Ridge — was galloping along after about a half-mile at the Belmont and broke his leg. All he had to do was finish last to win the million-dollar bonus, but he didn't finish the race. The horse had never had a pimple racing; he was galloping along at the safest racetrack in America and he just snapped his leg."
At Oaklawn, Anthony has won an impressive five Rebel Stakes and three Arkansas Derbies. He's now in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Over the years, Oaklawn has welcomed many household names in the racing world.
"We've had a lot of champions race here: Lady Secret, Azeri, Cigar, Criminal Type," Wallace says. "Alydar came here on a Friday and got beat, when he was a 4-year-old. At the time, 1979, it was our biggest Friday crowd ever; we had 50,000 people here.
"Virtually every great jockey has ridden here. Pat Day was the legend; he had so much impact on everything that went on here. He won 137 races in one season. And with the passing of Billie Shoemaker and the retirement of Lafitte Pincay, he's probably the leading active rider today. And he's a truly great person.
"But there were people who hated him because every time he got on a horse, everybody bet him and bet him way down, and betters could never get real value out of his mounts. There were actually some people who said, 'Get rid of him; he spoils the fun of it because we can't make any money.' But he lent true integrity to the sport."

Changing Times
To survive in today's highly competitive climate, Wallace says, "We've had to be more creative. We've gone from being seasonal to being full-time in 1996, which is the biggest change. That meant we could employ a lot more people; we could become a real corporation rather than seasonal operation, which was a really big thing to happen. For all those years, when Derby Day was done, this place shut down.
"Then they started Simulcasting for short periods in the summer; we opened it during some afternoon hours and played for a minimum number of people. Now, on Fridays and Saturdays we show races from 17 tracks. We have the channel capacity to do as many as 10 tracks at one time. On some days, people are here from 11-11.
"We've made a lot of effort here. Some places that didn't did not succeed or are in real jeopardy. The Fairgrounds is in bankruptcy court. But we have a very active Simulcast season. We do a lot of things to make it comfortable for people who come in here and play.
"The fact that we have three products to offer now is very important. It creates more jobs, it creates more purse money, it's better for the economy. You have to constantly change and constantly expand, and we've learned that. So change is part of what we do."
Yes, change has been fairly constant at Oaklawn — even if, at times, it has been hard fought.
"I can remember the time — back in 1980 — when Joe Cantey was training for me, and we brought Eddie Maple, a prominent New York jockey, to race," John Ed Anthony recalls. "He wouldn't return the next year because there was no hot water in the jockey's room. He complained that by the end of the day after the feature race, after all the bug boys had ridden the early races, there was never any hot water. I asked [Oaklawn General Manager W.T.] Bishop if I could put in a hot-water tank, but he refused to let me. He was a very conservative man.
"And there was no place for the owners to stand and watch the race. I remember when Temperence Hill won the Arkansas Derby, I had given the usher $10 to let me stand in his chair so I could see my horse run.
"Now, the current management has been very receptive to suggestions from horsemen and trainers. It goes back to some of the problems racing is experiencing today. In the old days, they were the only gambling there was anywhere. So they weren't concerned about horsemen; they weren't even concerned about patrons unless you were a big bettor. Now, all that's changed. It's a much more friendly environment. Competition has forced all racetracks to at least be courteous to horsemen.
"Horsemen were pretty low on racetrack management's scale of important factors until recently. I raced in the Florida Derby one time and had to watch it on television — at the Derby. I remember when Laz Berrara, one of the most prominent trainers on the West Coast, came to Hot Springs, he didn't have a place to sit and had to buy his own hot dog. Now, they have fine facilities at all racetracks — dining rooms and elegant parking and all the accommodations you could imagine."
That isn't the only change, says veterinarian David Jolly. The industry itself is evolving.
"Horses 30 years ago were probably given a little more time to mend," he says. "A lot of trainers would lay off for two or three months out of the year, and they don't do that much anymore. The cost of laying off a horse and bringing it back has gotten prohibitive. Now, instead of giving a horse time, they'll just drop it down in class and let somebody claim it.
"The philosophy has changed. People were more conservative and caring in the way they trained and looked after their horses. Now it's more of a quick-fix philosophy. Time is not considered as a method of solving a problem. But the racing industry in general has changed. There's a lot less caring, a lot less knowledge and a lot more emphasis on money and a lot less emphasis on loyalty."
Like Jolly, Terry Dunlavy bemoans many of today's trends.
"When I first started training in the '70s, it cost $15 a day to train a horse. Now it's $70," he says. "For an owner, the expenses have just gotten huge, and the horse is the one that's been sacrificed because he's pushed a little more to run and run a little more often. But it hasn't changed me. I'm old school, and I do what I want to do.
"And everybody is stats-oriented now. It used to be you took your horse and you took your time and developed him and you didn't worry about how many wins you've got vs. someone else. Now it's all about stats and performance. I don't think that's good for the business.
"You used to be judged on things like how you handled the horse, how the horses looked, on horsemanship. Now there are more promoters and wheeler-dealers and computers. It's definitely changed. It's not as much fun."
In fact, at times, things can get downright ugly. Consider the Valhol episode — which Terry Wallace considers the worst incident at Oaklawn in the last 30 years.
"Valhol, the horse that won the Arkansas Derby in 1999, in pulling up, the jockey dropped an electronic device on the backstretch," Wallace recalls. "Our normal cameras would not have been following it, but it happened that ESPN was showing the Derby that year. We had to do something we wished we didn't have to — pursue that issue in court and keep it in the public eye to prove that we weren't going to stand for that.
"Our tractor driver actually found it but didn't know where it came from. In the ESPN coverage, it shows something falling from his hand, and they were able to take that piece of evidence and enhance the video.
"Eventually, the jockey was punished to the extent to which he could be punished, which was a five-year suspension. And it took the purse away from the winning owner, which was redistributed to the new winners. But nobody got any purse money until the courts resolved it, which was six or seven months after the appeal.
"It was an ugly situation. It was Derby Day; it was essentially the last race of the year, and it put a real stain on it. But we had to pursue it and the public appreciated the fact that we pursued it.
"It would have been real easy for that tractor driver to stick that thing in his pocket — nobody would have ever known," Wallace adds. "And it would have been real easy, even after that tractor driver brought that into the office, to dump it in the trash and forget it ever happened. I think there are probably some places where that would have happened. But Oaklawn's not that way."

A One-of-a-kind Wonder
That Oaklawn is a unique track is hardly debatable among its frequenters.
"We have a tradition of racing here that a lot of people don't have," David Jolly says. "One time, David Vance was running an entry in a race that went off at 4-5 odds; Herman Udouj was running a horse called Barbizon Streak that went off at 7 or 8 to 1. Barbizon Streak won — and he was very popular, and people who owned him were very popular. It was a race that had a trophy given away, so they went down to the track after the race, and when they came back up to the front of the grandstand, the whole grandstand gave them a standing ovation.
"I was sitting beside a guy who was down here for the first time from New Jersey. And he said, 'I'm not believing this. In New Jersey, if a 4-5 favorite got beat, they would still be picking up beer bottles off the racetrack a half-hour later. And here they're giving them a standing ovation.' Which is a good indication of the tradition and the stuff that goes on at Oaklawn that may or may not go on at other tracks."
"Tradition plays a big part in everything here," Wallace says. "We are technically Arkansas's only major league professional sports franchise. So there's a certain regional pride in what goes on here, and people therefore support us — largely, because it's the one place they can go and see major-league sports at a reasonable price. People's attitudes are good, so we have a wonderful audience — very receptive, very eager people who appreciate how this place has developed."
Bob Holthus agrees.
"Thirty years ago, a lot of cities didn't like to see racetracks come in. But Hot Springs has always welcomed people to the racetrack. It's been a friendly town. A racetracker — the jockeys and trainers and such — can take on a celebrity status, whereas they wouldn't do that in Chicago."
"Oaklawn has always been great fun; it still is great fun," John Ed Anthony adds. "I believe it's about the only racetrack in America where they still have people — and, on the weekends, lots of them. You go to Belmont, they have seating for 50,000 and there might be 1,500 on a typical weekday."
"The great thing about Oaklawn is that it's Arkansas's track and through this track we are connected to the greatest horses that have ever lived — both by lineage and the ones that have run there," says KTHV-TV sportscaster Craig O'Neill, who has been frequenting Oaklawn since 1974 and considers himself "the top horseracing fan in America." "What you see unfolding at Oaklawn — there's no better racing in America.
"People look at Oaklawn and think, 'Aw, they're not what they used to be.' Actually, with Simulcasting, they are. The thing is, you look up at the screen and see Gulfstream, which has all the big-time trainers and all the big-time jockeys — Pat Day left Oaklawn to go to Gulfstream. And on a weekend at Gulfstream, they'll have 12,000 and call it a great weekend. At Oaklawn, that would be an off-weekend. Oaklawn beats everybody in attendance, even California."
As for the future, "I think eventually in this country we'll end up having 10 racetracks running races, and everything else will be Simulcast," Jolly says. "Oaklawn will not be one of those 10 because we don't have the facilities or the capability of expanding into those facilities. But I've always told people who ran off to another racetrack that I'd just as soon have my star hooked to Oaklawn as anywhere else. I like the location, I like the tradition here, I like the way the horse industry is set up here. And the fact that Charles Cella is the sole proprietor has given him the chance to run it the way he wants to run it and the reason it's stayed the way it is."
Bob Holthus, on the other hand, believes Oaklawn is here to stay.
"I think we're definitely on the upswing," he says. "I think if they'll allow us to keep the instant racing machines we'll survive. Tracks that tend to get alternative gaming do it under the disguise that they want to help horseracing. But after they get them and that start pulling in that money, they want to figure a way to get rid of horseracing. I think that could mean the end for a lot of tracks. But Oaklawn will always be here, as long as the Cella family is around. They have the wherewithal to keep it going."
Terry Wallace is certainly confident of Oaklawn's longevity.
'We're going to do whatever we have to do to keep going — whatever is required to maintain ourselves as a major racetrack," he says. "I want to make sure that the best racehorses come here to race and that we're able to stay open 12 months of the year and we remain the largest tourist attraction in Arkansas. Those are things we're proud of. We want to lure the champions; we want to be everything Arkansans would expect us to be."

100 Years of Oaklawn
A timeline chronicling the venerable Hot Springs racetrack

1905 On Feb. 15, Oaklawn presents its first racing card. A crowd of some 3,000 attends, Hot Springs Mayor John Belding having declared a half-holiday for the city. The first race at the new track, which is owned by Dan Strut and John Condon, is won by Duelist, owned by John W. Schorr, a prominent Memphis sportsman who went on to become America's champion owner in 1912 and again in 1914.
1907 In an era when Oaklawn cards only six races per day, Jockey Herman Radtke rides 16 winners during a four-day span in February. Radtke rides four of the six winners on Feb. 20, 21, 22 and 23. It’s considered America's greatest jockey feat of 1906. Radtke returns to Oaklawn in the 1940s — as a pari-mutuels clerk.
1908-1915 The Oaklawn track is idle because of political problems in the state.
1916 Racing resumes; the track is now owned by Louis A. Cella, who purchases it after the death of owners Dan Strut and John Condon. The meet begins March 11 under the auspices of the Business Men's League of Hot Springs.
1917 Old Rosebud, winner of the 1914 Kentucky Derby, is active at Oaklawn, as is Pan Zareta, one of the greatest of America's mares (with a record-smashing 75 triumphs). They meet on March 24 with Pan Zareta winning by a head over Colonel Vennie. Old Rosebud finished third. They meet a second time on April 6; Old Rosebud wins and Pan Zareta finishes third.
1918 The riding title is won by apprentice Earl Sande, who would become one of America's greatest jockeys ever. At age 51, Louis Cella dies in a St. Louis hospital, the victim of a stoke. Along with his brother, Charles, and two partners, Louis had operated a number of tracks, including Oaklawn, Douglas Park and Latonia, in addition to earlier ones in New Orleans and St. Louis.
1919 Exterminator, the great gelding and subsequent Hall of Fame member, makes his first two starts (and wins) of the campaign at Oaklawn. Then a 4-year-old, "Old Bones,” trained by Henry McDaniel, goes on to 50 of 100 starts in a remarkable career.
1934 After several interruptions in which Oaklawn doesn't have meets because of the political climate, modern racing arrives. On the March 1 opening day, a crowd of 5,000 attends in the rain. The leading rider is Maurice (Moose) Peters, who goes on the national title that year.
1935 For the first time, Oaklawn races under a racing commission: chairman H. W. Highfill of Blytheville, J. H. Graves of Judsonia, Tom Compton of Prescott, Ed Gordon of Morrilton, Col. C. F. Armistead of Fayetteville, Douglas Hotchkiss of Hot Springs and Dr. P. H. Phillips of Ashdown. Purse distribution jumps from an average $2,465 the previous year to $3,248.
1936 The Arkansas Derby is born with a $5,000 purse. The winner is Holl Image, owned and trained by Jack Carter. On March 6, the originally scheduled 30-day meeting is extended one week until April 4. Oaklawn General Manager Joseph E. Martin, after conferring with track owner Charles Cella, announces that the extension had been requested by the governor, "to help the State's general revenue fund."
1940 Charles Cella, president of Oaklawn, dies on Oct. 29 in St. Louis. at age 65; he had been in racing for 48 years. His son, John G., and grandson, Charles J., would later head the track.
1942 The Thoroughbred Racing Association is formed, with Oaklawn as a charter member. The season boasts a particularly strong jockey colony, including Johnny Longden, Johnny Adams, Steve Brooks, Eric Guerin, Paul Keiper, Joe Dattilo, Lyle Whiting, Ferril Zufelt, Les Balaski and Paul Glidewell.
1943 Calumet Farm, under trainer Ben Jones, has a stable at Oaklawn. The Arkansas Derby, which has increased to $10,000-added, is won by Brown Hotel Stable's Seven Heart, under former National Jockey Champion Johnny Adams.
1944 Because of World War Il, racing is curtailed at many tracks in 1944, but Oaklawn ushers in its 30-day meet on Feb. 28; the meet manages a record-setting attendance of 140,494 and record-setting pari-mutuel play of $8,581,748.
1945 Because of the war, there is no racing at Oaklawn in the spring. On Jan. 2, racing throughout the United States ends for an indefinite period at the request of War Mobilization Director James F. Byrnes. The ban is lifted May 9. In July, Oaklawn President John G. Cella and General Manager Peter J. Holmes announce that Oaklawn will conduct the lost spring meet in late autumn.
1951 The parking facilities are increased to 800 cars and steam heat is added to private boxes in the paddock.
1952 Oaklawn gains national attention when its handle jumps 18 percent, from a daily average of $336,341 to $434,667. Attendance climbs 10 percent, from 7,057 a day to 7,739.
1956 Henry Forrest, one of racing’s finest trainers, wins his eighth straight Oaklawn title. In all, the Kentuckian will win 11 Oaklawn crowns.
1959 Oaklawn reaches two milestones when its averages reach 10,000 in attendance and $500,000 pari- mutuel handle. John G. Cella, father of current Oaklawn head Charles, is named to a two-year term as president of the Thoroughbred Racing Association.
1961 The Oaklawn season is extended to 43 days. Although wagering dips 8 percent and attendance 1 percent, for the first time in history, the pari-mutuel tax to the state reaches seven figures: $1,226,416.
1962 A pivotal year, which ushers in more than two decades of significant increases that rocket Oaklawn to among the top five tracks in North America. Wagering averages rise 13 percent (from $494,851 to $560,766) and attendance 6 percent (from 8,816 to 9,313). Net purse distribution soars to $1,002,600. Grant admits he increased several purses on closing day to get the distribution above the $1 million mark.
1968 Current track president and chairman of the board Charles J. Cella takes over as head of Oaklawn, succeeding his father, John G. Cella, who has died unexpectedly.
1969 Jockey Larry Snyder wins with six of his eight mounts on April 1 to become the first jockey to ever win that many races on a single Oaklawn program.
1971 J. Sweeney Grant, under whom Oaklawn has enjoyed 16 years of remarkable growth, dies, succumbing to a rare blood disease on July 7. Later in the year, W. T. (Bish) Bishop is named to replace him and the rises in attendance and handle as well as various construction projects, continue.
1972 President Charles Cella ups the Arkansas Derby to $100,000-added, making it Oaklawn's first six-figure purse. Attendance is up 12 percent and betting 22.5 percent over the previous year.
1974 The Racing Festival of the South is born. It involves a stakes race per day during the final seven programs of the meet, climaxed by the Arkansas Derby. Pari-mutuel handle for the meet is $80,199,719, shattering the old mark of $68,504,109 that had been set in 1973. David Vance sets an Oaklawn training record by saddling 50 winners during the 50-day season.
1975 The meet opens with a new five-level, glass-enclosed addition to the north end of the grandstand. The addition includes a general admission area, an extra 400 box seats and 2,500 reserved seats, kitchen, dining room and a private club. Charles J. Cella begins a two-year-term as president of the Thoroughbred Associatioin.
1977 The largest crowd ever at Oaklawn — a throng of 54,216 — turns out on Derby Day, April 2.
1978 For the first time, season attendance reaches 1 million and the daily pari-mutuel average is $2 million.
1980 More than 250,000 fans attend the Racing Festival of the South. Temperence Hill wins the Arkansas Derby and is voted an Eclipse Award, becoming the eighth such titlist to race at Oaklawn.
1981 A barn-building program is announced that, when completed, would give Oaklawn nine new modern, fire-resistant structures. For the 22nd time in 23 years, new highs are set in attendance, handle or both.
1982 The track has its first million-dollar race, when fans bet $1,020,098 on the Arkansas Derby.
1983 An all-time record meet in pari-mutuel play and attendance. The track reaches a coveted goal of averaging $3 million in wagering. For the 56-day season, the handle is $168,740,923, with season attendance of 1,303,223.
1984 The Arkansas Derby is increased to $500,000. For the first time in the modern era, it’s won by a filly. Since the previous season, a new, five-story glass-enclosed grandstand has been added. Records are established in season average, season handle, single-day handle and single-race handle. On March 7, Russell Caston and Norman Ruback's Win Stat races one mile and 70 yards in 1:38 2/5 to set an Oaklawn, American and world record.
1985 Before the season opens, Oaklawn expands its grandstand for the fourth time in a decade, and the eighth new barn is built. However, after years of growing statistics, figures start to reverse. Betting dips 8.1 percent and attendance 3.7 percent as compared to 1984. Increased competition from neighboring states boasting more favorable pari-mutuel tax, increased dates, lack of Sunday racing and a depressed oil economy are blamed.
1986 A record single-day attendance of 71,203 watches Nancy and John Reed's Rampage win the Golden Anniversary running of the $500,000 guaranteed Arkansas Derby — a record for a sporting event in Arkansas. However, overall attendance decreases 1.6 percent and the handle 2.9 percent.
1987 D. Wayne Lukas saddles three of the Racing Festival of the South winners, matching a feat he accomplished in 1985. The Eclipse Award winner remains the only trainer to ever twice win three stakes of the Festival the same year. Attendance continues to sag, and the track asks for legislative help. Late in the season, a tax incentive bill is passed, but not of the magnitude of competitive states. A request for Sunday racing is dropped. W. T. Bishop, among the strongest of Oaklawn leaders over the years, dies. He’s replaced by Eric Jackson, former director of operations for the track.
1988 The meet is extended to 68 days, and five-day weeks are tried but prove unsuccessful. Competition, particularly intertrack at Louisiana Downs, cuts even further into Oaklawn statistics. 1988 Eclipse Champion Pat Day wins his sixth consecutive Oaklawn riding title.
1989 For the first time in its history, Oaklawn races on Sunday, when the last two Sundays of the meet are used to make up two of five days lost to inclement weather. During the meet, the state legislature passes Act 12, which reduces Oaklawn's pari-mutuel tax from 5.5 to 2.5 cents on the dollar, permits off-season simulcasting and allows the Sunday racing issue to be decided by public referendum.
1990 Full weekend racing for the entire season helpes stop the skid in attendance and mutuel handle. A combination of good weather and the new schedule contribute significantly to increases of 11.4 and 10.6 percent in daily average attendance and mutuel handle, respectively. The Carousel Terrace Restaurant, a new grandstand feature accented by antique carousel horses, is virtually sold out throughout the season.
1991 The complete renovation of the Oaklawn Club is met with rave reviews. The addition of TV monitors at each table along with new china, mutuel lines and lavish fixtures are joined with new chef, Jake Duplantis, to create one of the finest clubs in American racing. Significant increases during the summer simulcast season more than offset the earliest-ever live season opening, Jan. 25, and a very heavy springtime rain accumulation.
1992 Two Arkansas-based 3-year-olds, Loblolly Stable's Pine Bluff and W. C. Partee's Lil E. Tee, finish one-two in the $500,000 Arkansas Derby, then win the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby, respectively, further enhancing the Arkansas Derby as the leading step to the Triple Crown. A 240x14-foot, 3,360-square-foot mural, depicting an Oaklawn race from post parade to finish, is completed on the exterior facade of the grandstand, representing the largest handcrafted artwork at any American Thoroughbred racetrack. With four wins on closing day, Pat Day wins his 10th consecutive Oaklawn riding title, edging out his closest challenger by two wins.
1994 Pat Day wins an unprecedented 12th consecutive jockey title.
1995 Attendance drops 8.3 percent, a decline attributed to casino competition in Louisiana and Mississippi. However, average daily purse distribution soars to a record $212,903. Calvin Borel rides 87 winners to take the riding crown and end of the dominance of Pat Day, who had 79.
When the Thoroughbred Racing Association begins talking about appointing a racing commissioner, Oaklawn withdraws from the association. Eventually, the idea is dropped; Oaklawn immediately rejoins.
1997 Buoyed by out-of-state simulcasting business, Oaklawn establishes a record daily pari-mutuel average of $4,756,703 — despite inclement weather that dogs much of the meet.
1998 Prestonwood Farm's Victory Gallop captures the 62nd running of the Arkansas Derby — then at Belmont Park on June 6 wins by a dramatic nose victory over Real Quiet to dash the Triple Crown hopes of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner.
1999 The most controversial of Arkansas Derby runnings occurs when James Jackson's Valhol scores an apparent upset triumph in the $500,000 closing-day fixture, only to have the outcome later reversed by the stewards and upheld by the Arkansas Racing Commission. Officials place Valhol last, take away the $300,000 first-place money and suspend jockey Billy Patin for allegedly possessing an illegal devise during the mile and one eighth feature. The track stewards suspend Patin through 1999, fine him $2,500 and recommend the racing commission extend the ban through 2004, which is done on May 12.
2000 Instant Racing, a pari-mutuel electronic system that allows players to wager on previously run races, is introduced and field-tested at Oaklawn. Developed in conjunction with Oaklawn, AmTote, Inc. and other investors, it marks the first effort by racing interests into the electronic gaming world and is well-received by visitors from around the world.
2001 Calvin Borel rides the winners of the first and last races at Oaklawn and many of those in between to post 70 victories and take home his second Oaklawn riding championship (the first was in 1995). Cole Norman gains his first Oaklawn training championship, saddling 43 winners, 10 more than Robert Holthus, the runner-up and nine-time champion.    
2002 Azeri, largely off her brilliant victory in Oaklawn’s Apple Blossom Handicap, becomes the top-rated horse in America by the end of the year. Her brilliance is the highlight of an Oaklawn season that sees across-the-board increases in attendance and mutuel handle. Cole Norman captures the trainer's title for the second straight year and once again is among the top three trainers nationally in wins for the year.
2003 In spite of losing six days to weather-related causes, the season ends on a high note as 61,752 attend Arkansas Derby Day and wager more than $12.8 million. Azeri noses out Take Charge Lady to win the Apple Blossom Handicap a second time — one of the greatest races in Oaklawn history. Cole Norman wins his third straight trainer’s title and saddles 71 winners, easily breaking the record of 50 wins established in by David Vance.

SOURCE: Oaklawn Jockey Club