Oaklawn Park

Oaklawn will offer across-the-board purse increases beginning  Mar. 11. Claiming and starter allowance races will receive a $4,000 bump, with maiden special weights and allowances up by $6,000. "The first half of the racing season has gone extremely well, and we could not be happier to be sharing that success with our horsemen," Oaklawn President Louis Cella said. "We are particularly proud of the quality of the horses we are seeing on a daily basis, and we are very excited for the great racing to close out our season." The...

Neither Arrogate, by Unbridled's Song, nor Laoban, a son of Uncle Mo, is still with us, but a first-crop daughter of the former and a second-crop son of the latter won graded Classic preps at Oaklawn over the weekend, underscoring the sire potential each had. Arrogate was seven when he was euthanized in 2020 and Laoban was eight when he was put down almost a year later. Arrogate's Secret Oath won the Glll Honeybee S. Saturday by 7 1/2 lengths for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, and she has the look...

A one-eyed horse, as his name would imply, Un Ojo (Laoban) took the shortest way around over an increasingly rain-affected Oaklawn main track, and found his best stride in the final 50 yards, outfinishing an unlucky Ethereal Road (Quality Road) to cause a 75-1 upset of Saturday's GII Rebel S. in [not-so] Hot Springs. Ridden for pace from his inside draw, Kavod (Lea) dueled inside of heavily favored GIII Southwest S. hero Newgrange (Violence) passing under the wire for the first time and made the running just off the inside...

Bob Baffert trainee Newgrange (Violence), last seen taking Oaklawn's GIII Southwest S. Jan. 29 to up his record to three-for-three, faces 10 rivals including the next four Southwest finishers in Saturday's $1-million GII Rebel S. back in Hot Springs. Campaigned by the stallion-making conglomerate nicknamed The Avengers, the handsome dark bay was a debut winner sprinting at Del Mar in November before stretching out to a mile to annex Santa Anita's GIII Sham S. Jan. 1. He seemed to be spinning his wheels for much of the Southwest, but leveled...

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas won the first four runnings of the GIII Honeybee S. starting way back in 1988, and after picking up another trophy in 2007, sits tied with fellow Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen at a record five wins in Oaklawn's penultimate GI Kentucky Oaks prep. Lukas looks well positioned to break that tie with Asmussen as he sends out expected heavy favorite Secret Oath (Arrogate) in Saturday's renewal. Briland Farm homebred Secret Oath was a second-out romper around two turns at Churchill on Halloween before finishing a...

Only a 2 1/4-length defeat to eventual Grade II stakes-placed runner Nakatomi (Firing Line) against the boys on Keeneland debut Apr. 14 stands between Happy Soul and a perfect record. She has since been dominant against her peers, with a near 12-length victory May 13 at Belmont Park and a carbon-copy masterclass June 3 in the venue's Astoria S. as the 1-9 chalk. Making her 3-year-old bow here, the even-money favorite broke in line with the field and was asked to track the front-runner from third on the rail. Shoulder...

As a result of inclement winter weather expected this weekend in the Midwest, Oaklawn Park has cancelled the weekend's Feb. 4-6 cards and will bring them back in March, the track reported Thursday. The GIII Bayakoa S., which was set to be run Saturday, will be brought back Saturday, Feb. 12 as part of an 11-race card that also includes the GIII Razorback H. Three Thursday cards--Mar. 17, 24 and 31--have been added in March to make up the postponed dates.

Represented by a pair of flashy 3-year-old maiden winners at Oaklawn Park, owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong have been on quite a nice run at their hometown track the past two weekends. Favorite Outlaw (c, 3, Maclean's Music--Coco Belle, by Storm Boot) earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure--the highest rating of any sophomore so far this season--after airing at second asking by 3 1/2 lengths for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen going six furlongs Jan. 29 (video). "We're very pleased," said Alex Lieblong, who heads his own investment firm in...

Just minutes after his high-profile ownership conglomerate suffered a relative disappointment when running second, third and fourth with 60% of the field in the GII San Vicente S. at Santa Anita, unbeaten Newgrange (Violence) found his best stride late to justify 3-2 favoritism in Oaklawn's $750,000 GIII Southwest S. Entering off a debut sprint win Nov. 28 and front-running GIII Sham S. tally at Santa Anita Jan. 1, the handsome dark bay broke well and took the first turn perched three deep. He dropped back a bit while still kept...

Secret Oath stamped herself as a major player on the GI Kentucky Oaks trail with her second straight eye-catching victory at Oaklawn Park. Breaking her maiden Oct. 31 by over five lengths beneath the Twin Spires in her second career start, Secret Oath came up empty finishing a well-beaten fifth in the GII Golden Rod S. next out Nov. 27. After dominating her allowance rivals with a visually impressive score with first-time Lasix last out Dec. 31 at Oaklawn Park, she returned just as brilliantly here. Coming off Lasix for...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-OP, $84K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 3:51 p.m. ET The first of two strong-looking groups of sophomore fillies line up here in Hot Springs. Brad Cox-trained second timer Firewolves (Practical Joke) gets the tepid morning-line nod coming off a runner-up outing over track and trip Dec. 3 that earned her a 75 Beyer Speed Figure. The $140,000 Keeneland September yearling is half to MGSP Tap for Luck (Tapit) and to the dam of GSW/GISP Jeltrin (Tapizar). Peace Peddler (Gun Runner) set a solid pace in...

Officials at Oaklawn Park tweeted Thursday afternoon that racing and training would be canceled for Friday, Jan. 21 owing to extreme cold temperatures in and around Hot Springs. According to the tweet, the track intends to open for training Saturday, Jan. 22 and racing will go forward, with a first post time of 1 p.m. Central time. Officials anticipate returning to normal schedules Sunday, Jan. 23.