About Oaklawn Park

Oaklawn Park stands as a premium, one-mile dirt thoroughbred track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The racing season there runs from January to April when the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby takes place, a top class race in its own right but also a major stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby.

Top handicaps such as the Essex and the Razorback are run at Oaklawn as well as the Apple Blossom and the Rebel Stakes.

Although situated in the town of Hot Springs, Oaklawn sits less than 300 miles from Dallas and 400 from Austin, Kansas City and Nashville meaning large crowds are attracted for big festivals.

Oaklawn Park History

Back in 1905, the Hot Springs Mayor declared a half-day holiday for the opening of Oaklawn Park with over 3,000 people attending the track on its first day of racing.

Due to political issues, no racing took place at Oaklawn between 1907 and 1916 but after a sustained period of action the now famous Arkansas Derby was inaugurated in 1936 with a purse of $5,000 offered to entrants.

By 1952 Oaklawn could boast daily attendances of almost 8,000 people and an average daily handle of well over $400,000, figures which rose by the turn of the decade to 10,000 and $500,000 respectively with the Arkansas Derby purse increasing to $50,000 by 1965.

The track continued to go from strength to strength and during a 50-day meeting in 1970 an average of 11,000 people were attending daily with over $43,000,000 wagered over the course of the meet.

In the mid-70’s Oaklawn gave birth to the Racing Festival of the South with pari-mutuel wagering amounting to a cool $80,000,000 that season and by the 80’s over a quarter of a million people were attending the festival each year.

By now the purse for the Arkansas Derby was up at $500,000 and a new single-day attendance record was set with 71,000 showing up to see Rampage win the big race in 1986.

Ten years later Arkansas Derby day saw a total handle of over $10.5million and by the turn of the millennium Oaklawn was still seeing increases in attendance and wagering meaning the track stands as one of the best in the country at present.

Oaklawn Park Track Details

There is no turf track at Oaklawn, however the dirt track is a one-mile oval with a home stretch of just over 1,000 feet.

Biggest Races

Southwest Stakes (Grade 3) – one and 1/16 miles, three-year-olds (February).
Rebel Stakes (Grade 2) – one and 1/16 miles, three-year-olds (March).
Apple Blossom Handicap (Grade 1) – one and 1/16 miles, fillies and mares, four-year-olds and over (April).
Arkansas Derby (Grade 1) – one and 1/8 miles, three-year-olds (April).
Oaklawn Handicap (Grade 2) – one and 1/8 miles, four-year-olds and older (April).
Fantasy Stakes (Grade 2) – one and 1/16 miles, three-year-olds (April).

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Address

2705 Central Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901, USA

Contact

David Longinotti (dlonginotti@oaklawn.com)