SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY
Track Kitchen welcomes horsemen, patrons
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each year, The Sentinel-Record presents a series of articles highlighting the unique occupations surrounding the sport of thoroughbred racing in Hot Springs and the individuals who make the live meet a success.
Jana Digby takes her job as track kitchen manager seriously when it comes to showing horsemen and patrons Southern hospitality.
Now in her third year as manager, Digby said she’s even more excited now for what’s to come at Oaklawn Park than she was when she first started.
“The people that come in their first time here at Oaklawn, I get to introduce them and tell them everything there is to do here at Oaklawn,” she said. “I tell them ‘Y’all go over there and mingle and find all kinds of stuff.’ It’s just the excitement and everybody is so friendly and nice here, it’s like a big, happy family. I call them my Oaklawn family.”
Digby is a lifetime resident of Hot Springs and her history of treating people to good, Southern food runs deep in the community.
“I graduated from Fountain Lake High. I went there my whole life and then I went to work in the family business at 11 years old,” she said, adding her family owned Ed’s Place, a staple in the community. “After school I’d go cook and all that. Then, after I got done cooking, I’d have to get my homework done and do it all over again the next day so I learned from the dish room, to cook, to waitress, to being the hostess. And everything I learned came from my mom, Barbara Ford.”
Digby said from a family
restaurant to Oaklawn is “a big experience,” and now with the kitchen more accessible to the public for the second meet, she’s happy to share that experience with a wide array of patrons.
“It’s more exciting coming from a little country restaurant to a big company and trying to build the business, bring more people in, that’s why my big saying is ‘Y’all come on in here and try us out,’” she said. “I guess that’s what the most exciting thing was when they took the fence down and we were open to the public last year, we’re starting to get a lot of people … guys will meet here and have lunch, things like that. We’re open to everybody now.”
The track kitchen offers plate lunches and a breakfast buffet that longtime patrons are familiar with, but Digby said when she came on board, she brought a few new dishes to the table.
“I made them buy me some iron skillets and I do country fried potatoes,” she said. “We were famous for fried chicken, so we have Ed’s Fried Chicken on Saturdays here. What I brought was home cooked vegetables, homemade cornbread, fried catfish, baked catfish, fried chicken, baked chicken, homemade meatloaf — Momma’s recipe — just stuff like that is what I’ve brought.”
When the live meet starts, Digby said she will start waking up at 2 a.m. to be in the kitchen cooking by 4 a.m., all for the love of the people she serves.
“I love folks. I love my job to death. I love getting up here and being here at 4 o’clock in the morning and they say I’m just too happy to be up at 4 o’clock in the morning with a big smile on my face. I get everybody going. When I get here, I just feel full of joy,” she said.
The track kitchen opens at 5 a.m. and closes 30 minutes after the last race, she said.
Though thoroughbred racing is still very new to her, Digby said she’s become a fan in her time at Oaklawn.
“I’m a big racing fan, especially meeting trainers and hot walkers and all that,” she said. “I used to ride horses all the time, but I didn’t do thoroughbreds. I rode quarter horses. So watching the races, it gets exciting in here and I’ll just jump in with them and start whooping and hollering on that TV.
“My daddy was a horse trader and a dog trader, so we had maybe 20 horses up at one time. I did team roping, trail riding and it was all a family event. A family oriented deal. I went from riding quarter horses to watching thoroughbreds.”
When it comes to horse racing, Digby said for anyone unfamiliar with the sport or Oaklawn, she invites them to come see what it’s all about.
“It’s not just about horse racing; it’s about socializing,” she said. “Oaklawn offers a lot besides just horse racing. We’ve got the gaming and we’ve got the bands and music. It’s hard to put it all in words. They need to just come feel the atmosphere.”