Oaklawn remains a king in horse racing

The world of perspiring arts has never been crazier.

There is almost no perspiring.

That’s good and justified as the United States works as a team to contain the coronavirus.

On Sunday, Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort officials got the news of two positive coronavirus cases in Garland County and made the decision to close its casino for two weeks.

Oaklawn had already announced it would race without patrons, and when he heard of the two positive cases Louis Cella made two decisions.

First, he would stop casino action, and for the next two weeks the approximate 1,000 employees will continue to be paid.

Cella had to be talked into putting that in the press release.

Louis, like his father Charles, doesn’t toot his own horn.

Last year, when a longtime employee died after a lengthy illness, it was discovered that the employee had continued to be paid when he became too sick to work.

“As good community citizen, we felt this was the right thing to do for public health,” Cella, president of Oaklawn said in a statement released late Sunday night. “As for the nearly 1,000 team members we have on staff during this live racing season, including all year round and seasonal team members, we will continue to pay their salary and benefits during this two-week period.

“As for racing, it has always been the lifeblood of Oaklawn and we are happy to offer the horsemen an avenue for racing their horses in these challenging times. While no fans are permitted to experience racing during this time, fans will be limited to watch and wager on Oaklawn Anywhere. We continue to monitor everything on a day to day basis. We appreciate the patience of our guests, team members and horsemen.”

Closing the casino includes Silks Bar and Grill, Bistro 2705 and the Sports Book.

While so much is up in the air about all sports, it is expected to be announced today that the Kentucky Derby will be moved to the first Saturday in September, but the points needed to run have not been changed yet.

Unless something drastic happens, it seems Oaklawn, a key player in the prep races for the Kentucky Derby, will have the Arkansas Derby on April 11.

A major player for the Arkansas and Kentucky derbies stepped up Saturday at Oaklawn but not without a scare.

Nadal, with Joel Rosario in the irons, broke sharply to the lead and set some decent fractions, but the long shot in the field Excession was liking the pace.

At the top of the stretch, Excession had moved from eighth about 4 lengths back to second by 2, and the 82-1 shot continued to close but came up three-fourths of a length short.

Despite great breeding by Union Rags, Excession had not been too impressive with one win in eight starts, but he is trained by Steve Asmussen who was in short pants the last time one of his mounts was the long shot in the race.

Nadal shipped in for the race from Santa Anita, but trainer Bob Baffert didn’t. Don’t know if he was in quarantine because he rarely makes it to Oaklawn, although he’s had some very successful horses use the track as a final prep race for the Kentucky Derby.

American Pharoah roared through Oaklawn in 2015, picking up a head of steam that left him the winner of the Triple Crown.

Since Smarty Jones, who also won the Arkansas and Kentucky derbies in 2004, Oaklawn’s reputation as a firstclass operation has grown to the point it is now mentioned in the same breath with Santa Anita, Churchill and Saratoga as great tracks.

Keeping the racing going and temporarily shutting down everything else just enhances that reputation.