Track loses training day as temp drops

Colder temperatures led Oaklawn Park to cancel morning training Thursday, as track conditions were not ideal. However, track officials made do, and were hopeful that training would resume for at least a few days.

“It’s kind of like farming; we’re at nature’s mercy,” said trainer Steve Hobby, who also serves on the track surface committee.

“The track was closed this morning, but we’re hoping it will thaw out enough this afternoon that track maintenance can start working it and have it ready for tomorrow,” he said.

“If we can get hours in on Friday and Saturday, we will be OK.”

According to Director of

Racing David Longinotti, they never plan to postpone training or close the track more than 24 hours in advance.

“I know right now we are planning to open no earlier than 10 a.m. (today), but beyond that I can’t say,” he said. “After training, we will meet with representatives from the track surface committee to plan for Saturday.”

Thursday was the first day of training Oaklawn has lost in preparation for this live meet.

“There have been a few mornings we have opened late, but this is the first day we have lost,” Longinotti said.

In 2015, Oaklawn delayed opening weekend due to “arctic temperatures” deemed unsafe. This resulted in opening day festivities taking place on a Thursday for the first time in the track’s history.

Longinotti said the track didn’t lose a single day in 2016, and as the weather appears now “once we get past this week, we will be OK.”

Hobby said his horses did get some exercise Thursday in the shed row of the barn.

“We put shavings down to make it soft, and the exercise riders jogged the horses around the shed row for a little bit, just to keep them working,” he said. “You can’t get out of a jog, but we do that for about 10 minutes and walk them for another 20 or 30 minutes.”

It’s not every year that Hot Springs gets a cold winter, Hobby said, but it does happen and in these conditions the track takes it a day at a time.

“I don’t think we missed a day last year,” he said. “But there have been years we’ve missed a lot of training for cold weather.”