Oaklawn

This is the fourth installment in a series highlighting racetrack photographers. Around 1960, a funeral director decided he'd had enough of the cold Chicago winters, so he uprooted his family to Phoenix to ply his trade in a warmer clime. Upon arrival, Jack Coady, Sr. learned his Illinois mortician's certification didn't match Arizona's requirements, so he set out to look for another line of work. He liked photography and caught on with the Arizona Republic newspaper. On one of his very first assignments, he was sent to shoot the races...

The Oaklawn Park casino has been given the green light by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson to resume operations May 18. During his press briefing May 7, Hutchinson announced that the state's three casinos can reopen, but only at one-third capacity and that stringent social distancing requirements will be in place. Oaklawn's casino has been closed since Mar. 16 and the shutdown had started to affect purses. Under the worst-case scenario, the casino would be closed for an extended period of time and purses would have to be reduced at the...

7th-Oaklawn, $61,000, Alw (C), Opt. Clm ($100,000), 5-2, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:41.91, ft. GAMINE (f, 3, Into Mischief--Peggy Jane {SP, $102,050}, by Kafwain) a jaw-dropping front-running debut winner for Bob Baffert to become a 'TDN Rising Star' at first asking at Santa Anita Mar. 7, dug in gamely to stay perfect at Oaklawn Park Saturday. Taking on two turns for the first time here, the 3-5 favorite established early command passing the empty grandstand for the first time and was on the engine through fractions of :23.29 and :46.54....

Scolding (f, 3, Carpe Diem--Rebuke, by Carson City), a $475,000 OBSAPR breezer (:20 3/5), lived up to the billing with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance on debut on the GI Arkansas Derby undercard at Oaklawn Park. The even-money favorite broke well from her five draw and secured a perfect spot to sit a pressing second from the outside through an opening quarter in :21.77. Under a snug hold approaching the quarter pole with Ricardo Santana Jr. taking a look around for the competition, Scolding gained command without being asked, turned...

6th-OP, $60K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 4:36 p.m. ET Phoenix Thoroughbred III Ltd's INIS GLUAIRE (Bernardini) debuts for trainer Steve Asmussen. The dark bay, who realized an $825,000 final bid at last year's OBSMAR sale after completing an eighth of a mile in :9 4/5, is a son of Inish Glora (Regal Classic), a two-time Sovereign Award-winning turf female in Canada and dam of five winners from seven to race, including MSW Roan Inish (Elusive Quality) and GSP In Equality (Quality Road). The Apr. 6 foal, bred by Robert Costigan in...

In a Classic season blighted by the coronavirus pandemic, Oaklawn rounds out its winter meet with not one but two renewals of the GI Arkansas Derby. Facing a tough group of contenders in Saturday's second division of the Classic prep, including undefeated Nadal (Blame), winner of the GII San Vicente S. and GII Rebel S., and GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby hero King Guillermo (Uncle Mo), defending juvenile champion Storm the Court (Court Vision) will try to recover some of the sparkle from his 2-year-old season. This year, he...

10th-Oaklawn, $61,000, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 4-24, 3yo, 6f, 1:09.34, ft. NO PAROLE (c, 3, Violence--Plus One {SW, $168,847}, by Bluegrass Cat) dominated Louisiana-breds by a combined 27 1/2 lengths in his first two starts at the Fair Grounds, earning 'Rising Star' status Jan. 11. Next time, he rolled home a 6 1/2-length winner of the state-bred restricted Premier Night Prince S. at Delta Feb. 8 and was installed the even-money choice to get back on track following an off-the-board finish in the GII Rebel S. Mar. 14. To the...

8th-GP, $46k, AOC, 3yo, f, 1 1/8mT, post time: 4:46 p.m. ET NOPE (IRE) (No Nay Never) made five European starts for Alpha Racing and trainer Jessie Harrington, defeating the boys in a Fairyhouse maiden at second asking before concluding that portion of her career with a close fourth in the G3 Oh So Sharp S. at Newmarket in October. A half-sister to European MGSP Wall of Fire (Ire) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}), the 135,000gns Tattersalls October yearling is out of a daughter of Jewel In the Sand (Ire) (Bluebird), winner...

With the end of the championship meet at Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park and its Racing Festival of the South is, for all intents and purposes, the current focal point of Thoroughbred racing in North America in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Saturday's GI Apple Blossom H., one of two top-level events staged at Arkansas's spa meeting, attracted an incredibly diverse group of main-track distaffers, including California raiders Ollie's Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), who book-ended the 14-strong field when gates were drawn Wednesday. Despite enterprising...

This text is an abridged version of today's Free Data Friday release from the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation. Read the full version here. As the famous proverb goes--the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. Despite few tracks going forward in recent weeks and little to no competition for wagering, Oaklawn and Gulfstream have reduced purses, blaming the loss of subsidies from now shuttered casinos and the lack of on-track handle. Oaklawn set a new record for single day handle last Saturday, with...

Lots of people have been borrowing wartime terminology and metaphors for the current crisis. Yet it has long worried me that global leaders now belong to a generation with no memory of the second World War, never mind any direct involvement. Hardly a coincidence, perhaps, if populism and nationalism around the world are driven by people without their parents' visceral grasp of the stakes involved, when those sources of political energy overheat. Whether a pandemic-indifferent to borders, race or creed-will renew their sense of the collective interests of the species...

Mr. Big News (Giant's Causeway) certainly lived up to his name Saturday, upsetting the Oaklawn S. at a whopping 46-1. The bay raced well back off the pace early with just two rivals behind him as Gold Street (Street Boss) zipped through a :22.07 first quarter and a :45.47 half-mile. Given plenty of encouragement by pilot Gabriel Saez on the backstretch, the $95,000 FTKOCT buy made steady progress down the three-path to be within striking distance approaching the bend. Five wide on the far turn, Mr. Big News took control...