1985-1999

1985

After years of growing statistics, figures start to reverse. Betting dips 8.1% and attendance 3.7% as compared to 1984. Increased competition from neighboring states boasting more favorable pari- mutuel tax, increased dates, lack of Sunday racing and a depressed oil economy are blamed. Before the season opened, Oaklawn expanded its grandstand for the fourth time in a decade. The eighth new barn was built. Daily Double record handle of $654,528 established.

1986

A record single day attendance of 71,203 saw Nancy and John Reed's Rampage win the Golden Anniversary running of the $500,000 guaranteed Arkansas Derby. The crowd was a record for a sporting event in Arkansas. However, overall in 1986, the attendance decreased 1.6% and the handle 2.9%. Classix added. After season closed, parking lots, new drainage system, a road paving program, fill work for new barns, and a new 40-stall barn (ninth) completed.

1987

D. Wayne Lukas saddled three of the Racing Festival of the South winners, matching a feat he accomplished in 1985. The Eclipse Award winner remains the only trainer to ever twice win three stakes of the Festival the same year. For the first time, Oaklawn offered exotic wagering. In last portion of the meet- ing, it carded two exactas a day, later expanding this format to four. Despite this, the attendance sagged 7.3% and the handle 7.1%. Track asks for legislative help. Late in season, a tax incentive bill was passed, but not of the magnitude of competitive states. Request for Sunday racing had to be dropped. W. T. Bishop, among the strongest of Oaklawn leaders over the years, dies. He is replaced by Eric Jackson, former director of operations for the track. The $8,528,670 in purse distribution, most ever at the track.

1988

Meeting extended to 68 days, five day weeks tried, but found unsuccessful. Competition, particularly intertrack at Louisiana Downs, carrying the Fair Grounds races, cuts even further into Oaklawn statistics. Oaklawn attendance sags 14.2% from a daily average of 20,774 to 17,831. Betting dips 13.3% from $2,546,200 to $2,207,171. 1988 Eclipse Champion Pat Day wins sixth consecutive Oaklawn riding title.

1989

For the first time in its history, Oaklawn raced on Sunday. The last two Sundays of the meeting were used to make up two of five days lost to inclement weather. As a result, Oaklawn raced 64 of its 70 scheduled programs, averaging 15,792 in attendance and $1,868,928 pari-mutuel handle. In course of the meeting, the state legislature passed Act 12 which reduced Oaklawn's pari-mutuel tax from 5.5 to 2.5 cents on the dollar, permitted off-season simulcasting and allowed the Sunday racing issue to be decided by public referendum.

1990

Full weekend racing for the entire season helped stop the skid in attendance and mutuel handle that began in 1986. A combination of good weather and the new schedule contributed significantly to increases of 11.4 and 10.6% in daily average attendance and mutuel handle, respectively. First ventures into promotions headed by Cadillac Sweepstakes on Washington's Birthday. A record February weekday crowd of 39,952 wagers $3,374,581 as Johnnie Newton of Hot Springs wins the Cadillac Sedan De Ville automobile. Charles Randolph's Karen's Tom sets new six furlong standard, 1:07.4, in easily winning the Bachelor Stakes. Carousel Terrace Restaurant, the new grandstand feature accented by antique carousel horses, virtually sold out throughout the season.

1991

Complete renovation of the Oaklawn Club met with rave reviews. The addition of TV monitors at each table along with new china, mutuel lines and lavish fixtures were joined with new chef, Jake Duplantis, to create one of the finest clubs in American racing. Oaklawn participated in the American Championship Racing Series and Festin, trained by Ron McAnally, won over arch-rival Farma Way, on a sloppy track in front of a national television audience, in the $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap. Significant increases during the summer simulcast season more than offset the earliest-ever live season opening, January 25, and a very heavy springtime rain accumulation. One mile and one-sixteenth record equalled on closing day by Hang On Slewpy in the Fifth Season Breeders' Cup, 1:401/5. The winner was piloted by Don Howard, whose five winners on the card moved him to second place in the jockey standings behind America's leading rider, Pat Day.

1992

Two Arkansas-based three-year-olds, Loblolly Stable's Pine Bluff, and W. C. Partee's Lil E. Tee, finished one-two in the $500,000 Arkansas Derby, then proceeded to win the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby, respectively, further enhancing the Arkansas Derby as the leading step to the Triple Crown. A 240'x14', 3,360 square foot mural, depicting an Oaklawn race from post parade to finish, was com- pleted on the exterior facade of the grandstand. It represents the largest hand-crafted art work at any American thoroughbred race track. With four wins on closing day Pat Day won his tenth consecutive Oaklawn riding title, edging out his most serious challenger Garrett Gomez by two wins.

1993

Pat Day rides 80 winners to capture an unprecedent- ed eleventh consecutive Oaklawn Jockey title. Mary and Gary West's Rockamundo upset 10 rivals in winning the 57th running of the $500,000 guaranteed Arkansas Derby. Rockamundo paid $218, the most ever for a winner of an Oaklawn stakes. The $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap, taken by Bruce Jackson and John Swift's Jovial on April 10, became the richest race in track history. Jovial earned $450,000, a new high for a winner's share. On April 16, Sidney Craig's Paseana, the Eclipse champion, captures the $500,000 guaranteed Apple Blossom for the second time. The meeting pari-mutuel handle of $174,258,221 establishes a new Oaklawn mark. Purses amounted to $12,293,413. John Ed Anthony's Loblolly Stable set a meeting record for earnings by an owner.

1994

Robert E. Meyerhoff's Concern outgamed Vogel and Bowman's Blumin Affair to win the 58th running of the Arkansas Derby. The $192,858,564 total meeting handle and $3,110,622 daily average both Oaklawn single season records. John Franks established an owners' record for the meeting, "$733,434." Pat Day won an unprecedented twelfth consecutive jockey title and Bobby Barnett took down the training honors. Franks, the three-time Eclipse Award winner, had five winners on the program of Saturday, February 5, including Parisian Flight ($9.60), in the American Beauty Stakes. His other winners on the day were Corymore ($23.60), Artic Raindrop ($4), Finder's Wish ($7.20) and Mertzy Man ($14.40).

1995

Track experienced a mixed bag of numbers during the 64-day season, including a record pari-mutuel handle of $211,354,644, representing an all-time daily average of $3,354,836 for a gain of 9.4 percent. Off-track wagering soared to a new high of $106,614,701; an increase of 31.3 percent. However, on-track dipped 6.5 percent to $104,739,943. For the first time in track history, total off-track surpassed on-track handle. Attendance dropped 8.3 percent from 978,637 to 897,045, a decline attributed to casino competition in Louisiana and Mississippi. However, average daily purse distribution soared to a record $212,903, bettering the old mark of $201,587 established in 1994. Calvin Borel rode 87 winners to take the riding crown and end of the dominance of Pat Day, who had 79. Day rode six winners on February 2, including both ends of both daily doubles. No two of his six were for the same trainer. On February 24, Oaklawn withdrew from the Thoroughbred Racing Associations (TRA).

1996

Oaklawn achieved a record combined handle of $10,653,518 on Arkansas Derby Day. On-track handle was a season's best $4,394,989. Off-track handle was a record $6,258,529. Total meeting handle, on-track and off-track topped $256 million to establish a meeting record. Foxwood Plantation's Zarb's Magic won the sixtieth running of the $500,000 Arkansas Derby. Robby Albarado rode 78 winners to capture the jockey crown. Bobby Barnett saddled 29 winners from 163 starters to account for his third straight training title.

1997

Buoyed by out-of-state simulcasting business, Oaklawn established a record daily pari-mutuel average $4,756,703. This resulted despite inclement weather that dogged much of the meeting. Five of the scheduled 60 dates were lost, including the first four. Four-time Eclipse winning John Franks established another Oaklawn owner record when his stable earned $754,495 during the meeting. Robby Albarado won his second consecutive riding title, edging Tim Doocy, 83-78, after a season-long battle. There was a tie for the first time ever at Oaklawn for leading trainer, Kenny Smith and Gary Hartlage each saddling 26 winners.

1998

Excellent weather and a shortened season helped increase average daily attendance during the meeting. Total wagering was up, mostly because of the continued growth of simulcast wagering. The 53 racing days were the shortest Spa season since the 50 days in 1979. Enjoying good weather, not a program of the 53 was lost. On track wagering was down, but only slightly. Kenny Smith took the trainering title with 30 winners, Tim Doocy the riding crown with 86. Prestonwood Farm's Victory Gallop captured the 62nd running of the Arkansas Derby, then at Belmont Park on June 6, won by a dramatic nose victory over Real Quiet to dash the Triple Crown hopes of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner.

1999

The Arkansas Derby was introduced in 1936, but the most controversial of its 63 runnings occured when James Jackson's Valhol scored an apparent upset triumph in the $500,000 closing day fixture, only to have the outcome later reversed by the stewards and upheld by the Arkansas Racing Commission. Officials placed Valhol last, took away the $300,000 first place money and suspended jockey Billy Patin for allegedly possessing an illegal devise during the mile and one eighth feature. First place money was then awarded to Certain, the second place finisher owned by Bush and Jo Williams. The track stewards suspended Patin through 1999, fined him $2,500 and recommended the racing commission extend the ban through the year 2004, which was subsequently done on May 12.