Optimism building for 2014

HOT SPRINGS - The 2014 Oaklawn Park live season is coming into focus, and racing secretary Pat Pope said he likes what he sees.

“I’m like a kid in a candy store,” Pope said Friday.

In advance of the Jan.

10 opening, there were 632 horses on the grounds early Saturday afternoon, including probable 3-year-old male champion Will Take Charge for owner Willis Horton of Marshall and Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

High-profile trainers who haven’t wintered at Oaklawn, or are returning for the first time in several years, include Mark Casse, Kellyn Gorder, Jeff Bonde, Rusty Arnold and Josie Carroll.

Carroll, who is based most of the year at Woodbine in Canada, is expected to have about 10 horses, including Grade III winner Ami’s Holiday, a candidate for Oaklawn’s series of Kentucky Derby prep races.

Arnold, who once trained for John Ed Anthony’s Loblolly Stable, should have around 14 horses, Pope said.

“He’s bringing me the kind of horses that I always feel like we like to see - a maiden special weight going a route of ground,” Pope said. “You know they are going to be well-bred.”Staff change

Oaklawn has announced that Jerome “Jed” Doro will be the track’s assistant director of racing during the 2014 live season.

Doro is the assistant racing secretary at Delaware Park under Pat Pope. Pope is also Oaklawn’s racing secretary.

Oaklawn General Manager Eric Jackson said Doro was hired because of the uncertainty surrounding director of racing David Longinotti, who is battling a medical problem.

Jackson said he isn’t sure when Longinotti will return to his normal full-time role.

Bayes dead

Legendary blacksmith Jim Bayes died Thursday at his Glenwood home. He was 80.

Horseman Pat Tanner of Glenwood said Bayes apparently died of natural causes.

“We are still shocked,” Tanner said in an email Thursday night. “Jim shod many racehorses, including Cigar, and was easily one of the best at his craft. He shod for trainers worldwide and was highly respected.”

Cigar won the Oaklawn Handicap in 1995, the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996 and was Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996.

Funeral arrangements were pending late Saturday morning, but they are under the direction of Davis-Smith Funeral Home of Glenwood. Final furlong

Gentlemen’s Bet will make his 2014 debut in the $100,000 King Cotton Stakes on Feb. 8, owner Harry Rosenblum of Little Rock said. Gentlemen’s Bet, who hasn’t started since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2, worked a half-mile in :51.40 on Friday morning at Oaklawn. … Millionaire and Grade I winner Tiz Miz Sue will be bred next year to Tapit. … Trainer Cecil Borel, the older brother of Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel, is stabled at Oaklawn this year after previously being based during the winter at a training center near Shreveport. … Former Evangeline Downs racing secretary Coleman Lloyd will be the agent for two-time Oaklawn riding champion Terry Thompson at the 2014 meet, Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said.

Lloyd is a former Oaklawn racing official. … Oaklawn’s new equine ambulance should be ready in late February or early March, said Mark Lamberth of Batesville, a member of the Arkansas Racing Commission and a horse owner. … Former D.

Wayne Lukas assistant Will Van Meter has horses on the grounds as he prepares to make his training debut.

Grades are in

One of Oaklawn’s signature events for older fillies and mares, the $200,000 Azeri Stakes on March 15, has been upgraded from Grade III to II in 2014 by The American Graded Stakes Committee.

The Azeri is one of 10 graded races for Oaklawn’s 2014 meeting.

The committee uses a convoluted formula to assign grades to races, based on the strength of the field.

Grade I is the highest rating.

The Azeri was won the past two years by Tiz Miz Sue, who also won the Grade I Ogden Phipps this year at Belmont Park in New York.

The 2011 Azeri matched champion Blind Luck against eventual Horse of the Year Havre de Grace.

Oaklawn’s other graded races retained the same grade in 2014, including the $1 million Arkansas Derby and $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (both Grade I events).

Stakes report card

Oaklawn’s 10 graded stakes races for the 2014 season:

GRADE I (2)

$1 million Arkansas Derby, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap

GRADE II (3

) $200,000 Azeri Stakes, $600,000 Rebel Stakes,$500,000 Oaklawn Handicap

GRADE III (5)

$300,000 Southwest Stakes, $300,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, $150,000 Honeybee Stakes, $200,000 Razorback Handicap, $400,000 Fantasy Stakes

Sports, Pages 34 on 12/15/2013