Elevated Arkansas Derby highlights 54-day Oaklawn meet

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, kicks off its 54-day season on Friday,

the start of a four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend at the track.

Oaklawn will race four-day weeks (Thursdays through Sundays) through March 21.

The lone exception is Presidents Day weekend, which this year creates a five-day

week from February 11-16.

The Arkansas Derby will be preceded by the $250,000 Southwest S. (G3) on

February 15 and the $300,000 Rebel S. (G2) on March 13, both for three-year-olds. The other major

highlights of the Racing Festival of the South are the $500,000 Apple Blossom H.

(G1) for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles and the $500,000 Oaklawn H. (G2) for

older horses at nine furlongs, both on April 3.

This year the 50-cent corned beef sandwich promotion has been moved to the

opening Saturday to give more fans a chance to participate. The feature on the

Martin Luther King holiday on Monday is the Smarty Jones S., a one-mile event

for three-year-olds which has seen its purse doubled to $100,000 this year.

In addition, all paying customers will receive a commemorative bobblehead

saluting champion filly Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro), who won both the

Martha Washington S. and Fantasy S. during the 2009 season in which she went

undefeated, including wins over males in the Preakness S. (G1), Haskell

Invitational (G1) and Woodward S. (G1).

In 2009, nearly 60,000 fans passed through the turnstiles on the opening

four-day weekend. The combination of the 50-cent corned beef sandwich promotion,

the $100,000 Smarty Jones S. and Rachel Alexandra bobblehead giveaway gives

Oaklawn officials hopes of surpassing any previous opening weekends of this

century.

"We don't have a crystal ball," Oaklawn general manager Eric Jackson said,

"so we don't know exactly what the economy holds for early 2010. But we are

getting some early indications that hotels are seeing some renewed interest for

early 2010, so we will be cautiously optimistic. One thing we don't have to be

cautious about, however, is the terrific response we've had to our recruiting

efforts and the good feeling that has come with the Grade 1 status given to our

Arkansas Derby. With some recovery from the economy and excitement about new

things going on here, we can anticipate that we will draw more excited fans to

Oaklawn and into the Hot Springs area."

Perhaps due to the fact Oaklawn was shut down for training for much of the

past week due to inclement weather, Friday's opening day feature, the $50,000

Dixie

Belle S., attracted only seven three-year-old fillies to go six furlongs.

The likely favorite is DECELERATOR (Dehere), who captured the Debutante S. (G3)

at Churchill Downs last June and enters off back-to-back second-place finishes

in the Golden Rod S. (G2) and Pocahontas S. (G3) for conditioner D. Wayne Lukas.

The Steve Asmussen-trained VERTICAL VISION (Pollard's Vision), only sixth in the Pocahontas two back,

enjoyed greater success at Prairie Meadows last year with comfortable wins in

both the Prairie Meadows Debutante and Prairie Gold Lassie. She was second in

her most recent start in the Oklahoma Classic Lassie at Remington Park, 1 1/2

lengths behind SHOTGUN GULCH (Thunder Gulch), who had previously won an open

stakes over the same track. RAPID RACER (Forest Wildcat) won the Gowell S. over

Turfway's Polytrack last time but is winless in two previous attempts on a

conventional dirt surface, while the lightly-raced CROSSFIREHURRICANE (Eurosilver)

adds blinkers following a sharp second-place effort in a Fair Grounds allowance.