Oaklawn Park report

HOT SPRINGS — Network tunes out Oaklawn

Oaklawn Park’s races were available on both major horse racing networks in 2012, but that won’t be the case next year.

Only HRTV will carry Oaklawn after the track was unable to reach an agreement with TVG, said Bobby Geiger, Oaklawn’s director of gaming and wagering.

Geiger said he and David Longinotti, Oaklawn’s assistant general manager for racing, are “disappointed” that Oaklawn’s races won’t be on HRT V and TVG, which fuel off-track mutuel handle.

“We wanted to be on both,” Geiger said.

HRTV (Comcast Cable channel 720 in central Arkansas) announced its exclusive agreement with Oaklawn on Saturday.

Churchill Downs Incorporated, which negotiates content agreements on behalf of Oaklawn, is a 50-percent owner in HRTV.

Because of that relationship, Oaklawn, by default, is an HRTV exclusive track, Geiger said.

But through a special arrangement between CDI and TVG, almost all of Oaklawn’s races during the 2012 meeting were live on TVG.

“Last year, a special arrangement was reached between all parties, and that involves our content partners — Churchill, horsemen and others,” Geiger said. “It’s a big group. They all have to come together in harmony to make it work. This year, TVG radically changed the terms and we couldn’t get all the parties on the same page.”

HRTV normally showed only a handful of Oaklawn’s races each day, at the most, during the 2012 meeting.

Geiger said he didn’t want to speculate on the percentage of Oaklawn’s races that HRTV will show live in 2013, but added the network is trying to make Oaklawn, Santa Anita, Gulfstream and Fair Grounds the core of its production in the winter.

“Some of the burden is on me, post-timewise, to stay clear from the other tracks’ races,” Geiger said. “That’s always an adventure.”

Geiger said HRTV already has committed to provide on-site coverage of the $1 million Grade I Arkansas Derby on April 13.

Other than video streaming, Oaklawn essentially had been absent from TVG’s lineup since the final weeks of the 2006 live season until 2012, when it made Oaklawn a priority.

Geiger said he doesn’t see any reason why TVG won’t stream Oaklawn’s races on its website.

On the tube

Oaklawn Today, a halfhour replay show, will air on KARZ-TV, Channel 42, in Little Rock and on Resort Cable in Hot Springs during the 2013 Oaklawn meeting.

KARZ (Comcast channel 9 in central Arkansas) will air the show at 11 p.m. each race day.

It will air on Resort Cable (channel 5) at 9 p.m. each race day and rebroadcast the following day at 9 a.m.

Oaklawn Today also will be archived on arkansasmatters.com, said David Longinotti, Oaklawn’s assistant general manager for racing.

The show will be hosted and produced by Rolly Hoyt, a member of Oaklawn’s media relations department, and include full replays and calls by track announcer Frank Mirahmadi, contributions by former Oaklawn track announcer Terry Wallace, analysis and information.

Hoyt Communications will serve as sales agent for Oaklawn Today, which replaces The Oaklawn Report, a long-running replay show hosted by the now-retired Gary Weir.

Opening debut

Marshall Raylan, an unstarted 2-year-old son of Dixie Union, could make his highly anticipated career debut Jan. 11, the first day of Oaklawn’s live season.

Trainer Steve Hobby of Hot Springs trains Marshall Raylan for Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway, who originally purchased the colt for $185,000 at Keeneland’s Horses of All Ages Sale in January 2011.

The Lieblongs entered Marshall Raylan in the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March select sale of 2-yearolds in training and bought him back for $650,000.

Marshall Raylan recorded a half-mile bullet Wednesday (:47.20), following splits of :12, :24 and :35.20. He galloped out 5 furlongs in 1:00.60.

“He’s a fast horse,” Hobby said. “It’s better to be worried about what might happen than not have that talent over there in the first place.”

Marshall Raylan was entered in an Aug. 3 sprint at Saratoga in upstate New York, but was an alsoeligible and scratched.

After battling illness last summer, Marshall Raylan was turned out in the fall to point for the Oaklawn meeting.

Hobby said he’s “shooting for” an openingday sprint, with another maiden allowance-race event Jan. 20 a possibility.

Alex Lieblong said one of his favorite television shows, Justified, was the inspiration behind the colt’s name.

Raylan Givens is a United States Marshal and the major character on the television drama.

Jockeying

Agent Doc Danner said he will represent Kentuckybased jockey Victor Lebron at the 2013 Oaklawn meeting.

Lebron, 28, has won five riding titles at Turfway Park near Cincinnati and rode champion Hansen in his first two career starts.

Lebron was winless in three combined starts at the 2008 and 2010 Oaklawn meetings. He entered Saturday with 178 victories this year to rank in a tie for 39th nationally.

Lebron won 263 races in 2008 to rank eighth nationally.

Danner was the longtime agent for Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day.

Another riding newcomer at Oaklawn, Rosemary Homeister Jr., already has been on the grounds working horses.

On the move

Trainer Steve Hobby of Hot Springs said he will be based in Kentucky after the Oaklawn meeting ends in April.

Hobby had been a fixture in the Midwest in the summer and fall before moving his stable to Delaware Park in 2010, one of several local trainers lured there by racing secretary Pat Pope, who holds the same position at Oaklawn.

But with Churchill Downs receiving dates in September and purses rising at Ellis Park and Kentucky Downs because of Instant Racing machines, Hobby said the time was right to make the move.

Hobby said he’s already purchased a home in Louisville near Churchill Downs.

“I’m making a commitment,” Hobby said. “When Churchill got September dates, that’s huge. It looks like purses at Ellis will be very good. Hopefully, some of these I can load up and head to Saratoga with.”

Hobby was a top 10 trainer at Delaware in 2010 and 2011, winning 24 races at each meeting.

He won six races this year at Delaware and three more at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, where he also was stabled.

“I just don’t like the lifestyle,” Hobby said. “All I did was run up and down the road this year.”

Before relocating to the East Coast, Hobby had been based in the summer and fall at Arlington Park near Chicago, which has a synthetic surface.

Hobby said he preferred to run his horses on dirt.

Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said he’s considering shifting his base from Arlington to Kentucky following the 2013 Oaklawn meeting.

Final furlong

Oaklawn had 941 horses on the grounds Saturday afternoon. ... Unbeaten Applauding was among trainer Al Stall’s arrivals Thursday. ... Arkansas-owned Brown Almighty worked a half-mile in :49.40 Friday morning in preparation for the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 21. ... Bobby Geiger, Oaklawn’s director of gaming and wagering, said Oaklawn will have a larger simulcasting presence in California in 2013. ... Trainer Steve Hobby of Hot Springs said he’s targeting the $150,000 Grade III Azeri Stakes on March 16 for Tiz Miz Sue, who won the race in 2012. Hobby said Tiz Miz Sue is about to begin breezing again. ... Multiple stakes winner She’s All In is pointing for the $400,000 Houston Ladies’ Classic on Jan. 26 at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said. ... 2012 Smarty Jones winner Junebugred is in Florida with trainer David Fawkes and pointing for a grass race, owner Alex Lieblong of Conway said. ... The track will be closed for training Tuesday in observance of Christmas.