Experiencing Oaklawn Park, Eight Years Later.
It’s been eight years, and I can still smell the freshly printed wager tickets as I observed bettors patiently deliberating over their copy of the Daily Racing Form, amidst the chaos of the lobby — the pages curled and creased from overuse. The sea of blue and green grandstand seats filled up with each passing minute and the first set of athletes prepared to be tacked up in the paddock; restless to make their debut.
Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort — seated amiably in the heart of Hot Springs, Arkansas — is known as one of the premiere Thoroughbred racetracks in the country, and it is.
It really is.
I am not one for spontaneous trips, although mentally, I want to be. After eight years since the previous visit to Oaklawn Park, it took a microshare by the name of Chasing Time (Not This Time) to get me back to the first racetrack I had ever visited.
When I had finally arrived, it was exactly how I remembered it eight years prior. The controlled havoc as racing fans from various parts of the country strolled from the paddock to the grandstand and back to the food/drink stands for another round of early afternoon beers. Wagers were being made from every window, while other bettors penciled in notes on the blank spaces of their racing forms — bundles of cash burning a hole in their suit pockets.
I had purchased a seat amongst those in the enclosed grandstand, though it did not take long to realize the error of this purchase. The full experience of live racing was not seated behind a wall of glass, in the warmth of the indoors — instead, it is with one’s jacket zipper tightly pushed against the rail in an attempt to not only see, but feel the experience in its entirety.
With my Lumix G7 Panasonic camera secure around my neck, I found myself a corner nestled near the entrance of the winner’s circle and the rail that looked onwards towards the finish line. One may say it was the perfect spot and I wholeheartedly agree.
The only time I had failed to acquire my perfect spot was when I left to warm up, came back, and found Gary Stevens — Yes, that Gary Stevens— using it for his smoke break. If it was anyone else, I probably would have tried to squeeze my thin frame back into my spot but to no avail would I have done this with him.
For starters, it is Gary Stevens — not only an iconic race legend that I had just recently watched in the movie Seabiscuit a couple of days prior — but I was fairly certain I had angered the man earlier that morning when I did not see the crosswalk light going on Central Avenue and just kept driving.
He was the one about to occupy that crosswalk; a fact I did not realize until moments later. Would Gary Stevens know that I was that imbecile who kept driving? No, but I knew and that was enough of a reason for me.
(Sorry, Gary!)
In all honesty, I was honored to merely be in his presence. This was a sentiment that I had with another individual. A certain iconic race legend who trained four Kentucky Derby winners and was inducted into the U.S Racing Hall of Fame in 1999. On this specific day, he was sporting a black cowboy hat, leaning against the stone wall within the winner’s circle; mere feet from me.
Yes, D. Wayne Lukas.
His filly, Secret Oath (Arrogate) would go on to win the G3 Honeybee Stakes that day in commanding fashion. As well as his Ethereal Road (Quality Road) colt, who ended up placing second in the G2 Rebel Stakes, behind Un Ojo (Laoban).
By the end of the day, I had taken over two-hundred photos from the rail and triumphantly walked out of Oaklawn drenched from the pouring rain that came down by the start of the Rebel Stakes.
It could have rained all day, I would have stood by that rail just as happy as I had. Even though Chasing Time — the microshare I so proudly own a portion of — placed fifth in his race, it was a valiant fifth and I was honored just to be able to watch him try.
Every moment wandering through the crowds with my program, every second spent with numb fingertips taking pictures from the rail, and every dollar spent on bets — was a moment, second, and dollar well worth it.
As I drove past Oaklawn Park on Sunday morning to head home, I caught a glimpse of the horses as they did their morning workouts around the track. For a moment, I was filled with sadness as I knew I would miss all of it, every single part of that experience.
Yet, if it is one thing I know for certain, it won’t be another eight years. I’ll be back to experience it all again in the near future, I’ll make sure of it.
See you soon, Oaklawn.
