Overture to Oaklawn
2018 season newcomers address Jockey Club Kickoff Banquet.
There will be new names all over the program at Oaklawn Park this season when the 2018 meet starts Friday with 11 new regular jockeys and 18 new trainers.
Most fans will recognize at least two of them.
Jockey Gary Stevens — a member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame since 1997 and rider of three winners apiece in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes — and trainer Doug O’Neill — who directed I’ll Have Another, winner of the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and Nyquist, winner of the 2016 Derby. Both addressed the Oaklawn Jockey Club Kickoff Banquet in North Little Rock on Wednesday night.
Both said they were drawn away from their California track of choice last winter, Santa Anita Park, because of Oaklawn’s ever-increasing purse structure, currently richer than any other track running at this time of year in North America.
They also said more than money attracted them here.
“People asked why I was coming here,” Stevens said. “They didn’t think I would come, but I said, ‘Quality
horses, quality horsemen, quality management, quality money, and a quality style of life.’ That’s it. That’s pretty simple math. That’s why I’m here.”
“This will be our first full-time experience, but you hear it all the time,” O’Neill said. “You hear that this is the South’s version of Saratoga. The few times I’ve been here, the people couldn’t be nicer, and the purses are just through the roof. Really, you ask yourself, ‘Why have you not been here before?’ ”
As an example of purse differences, maiden special weights at Santa Anita race for $54,000 purses. At Oaklawn, the same race features $75,000 purses. Oaklawn will offer a total purse of at least $30 million for its 57-day season.
Oaklawn President Louis Cella said he’s excited to see the track add talented newcomers, but he believes they will find stiff competition from Oaklawn veterans.
“We have elevated our regular horseman — our backbone, really the underpinning of our product — to such a level where they can compete with these guys that get all the front pages of newspapers from coast to coast that come in here,” Cella said. “The fact of the matter is, I’ll take our trainers — the Steve Asmussens, the Ron Moquetts, the Steve Hobbys — who are here year after year. They put on a great show and a great product.”
Other new jockeys to Oaklawn who have committed to full seasons include Donnie Meche, who rode Private Emblem to victory in the 2002 Arkansas Derby; Michael Luzzi, the 1989 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice; and Alan Garcia, who rode Da’Tara to an upset victory in the 2008 Belmont Stakes.
Oaklawn veteran trainer Ron Moquett said the new crop of jockeys, mixed in with longtime regulars, should help everyone.
“We got some really good jockeys coming in,” he said. “We’re very happy with the selection this year.”
Moquett said he was not surprised to see an influx of horsemen at Oaklawn.
“People are seeing the purse structure and the quality of horses come here, so they’re starting to
wake up,” Moquett said. “But I think it’s kind of like everybody going out and buying Wal-Mart stock, though. Some of us have been holding it for a while.”
Stevens’ older brother, Scott Stevens, currently the leading rider at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, has raced as an Oaklawn regular and told Gary he would love his new racing home.
“He said, ‘You’re going to have the best winter you’ve ever had,’ ’’ Stevens said. “He said, ‘You’re going to become a kid again.’ ’’
Gary Stevens, 54, said some of his friends and colleagues in Southern California thought there was no way he could remain happy in the relatively small town of Hot Springs, or in winter weather far colder than jockeys are routinely subjected to at Santa Anita.
“They said, ‘You won’t last a week there,’ ’’ Stevens said. “I said, ‘I’m from Boise, Idaho, not Los Angeles.’ ’’
He said he spoke on the telephone with his mother and father in Boise on Tuesday.
“They were both on a speakerphone,” Stevens said. “Dad said, ‘Son, you sound like you have a little pep in your step.’ I said, ‘I do, Dad. I’m having a blast right now.’
“I’m dealing with some good horsemen here.”