Oaklawn Park officials made a second trip to California to secure their five-star recruit for the track's 2018 live racing season.
A group led by David Longinotti, Oaklawn's director of racing, and Pat Pope, racing secretary, visited trainer Doug O'Neill at Del Mar in southern California last summer and again during Santa Anita's fall meet.
"Everything I heard about Oaklawn from them and other people was great," O'Neill said. "So I decided, why not give it a shot?"
O'Neill got a taste of Southern hospitality when he saddled Classy Cara to victory in Oaklawn's 2000 Fantasy Stakes.
"I met Mr. Cella (Oaklawn's late president, Charles J. Cella) on the infield (saddling area), and we were on a first-name basis after that," said the 49-year-old trainer, whose first Grade 1 victory came in 2002.
A two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer in the last seven years, O'Neill received an Arkansas welcome at Oaklawn's annual kickoff banquet in North Little Rock Wednesday night. One comment made him an instant hit with the attendees at Wyndham Riverfront Hotel.
"My road to the Triple Crown this year will definitely lead through Hot Springs," O'Neill said.
They also liked another comment he made.
"Oaklawn is a special racetrack," O'Neill said. "People come out to the races and really know their stuff."
With racing in a resort town, O'Neill said he has become charmed by Oaklawn's "Saratoga-like" atmosphere. He also took an instant liking to Oaklawn's projected record purses, entering two horses on today's opening nine-race card.
O'Neill nominated non-winner Canadian Game to Monday's $150,000 Smarty Jones, but instead entered the 3-year-old Curlin colt in a two-turn race earlier on the holiday card. Owner Paul Reddam, he said, "sure likes the sound of those $75,000 maiden races."
The Canadian-born Reddam has become familiar to American racing fans in recent years as owner of Kentucky Derby winners I'll Have Another (2012) and Nyquist (2016), the latter named for a Detroit Red Wings hockey player. O'Neill trained both colts for Reddam, I'll Have Another also winning the Preakness and earning an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male.
Before becoming a force in the Triple Crown races, O'Neill received acclaim for winning seven Grade 1 races with Lava Man off a $50,000 claim at Del Mar in 2004. A three-time winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup with career earnings of more than $5.2 million, Lava Man was elected in 2015 to racing's Hall of Fame.
O'Neill experienced racing luck of another kind last month in southern California. Seven-year-old gelding Pray Hard, entered in Race 1 today, is one of three O'Neill runners to escape the Dec. 7 fire at San Luis Rey Training Center near San Diego. The nighttime blaze reportedly killed 43 horses, including 15 trained by Scott Hansen. O'Neill had 45 horses at the facility, but all were unharmed.
Jack Sisterson, overseeing Oaklawn's division, said it was a "miracle" that none of O'Neill's horses perished or were injured. The fire, said Sisterson, was heading straight toward O'Neill's barn before the wind shifted and fanned the flames in another direction.
"But by that point, we'd already let all 45 of them loose, just because that was the only saving grace, if the fire was to hit," said Sisterson. Most of O'Neill's horses were located Dec. 8, said the assistant trainer.
The final missing horse, found of the morning of Dec. 9, has an Arkansas connection, Avicii going 0-for-3 at Oaklawn in 2004 when owned by track president Cella and trained by the late Lynn Whiting. Pray Hard, Avicii and stablemate Picture Tube, another survivor, were flown to Arkansas Dec. 13.
Ryan Carpenter, O'Neill's veterinarian in California, "did specific tests to make sure they could and were suitable and healthy enough to fly," Sisterson said. "They were all fine."
Sports on 01/12/2018