HOT SPRINGS - Oaklawn Park racing secretary Pat Pope hit the road recruiting this fall with an eye toward the 2014 live meeting, but, maybe more important, the future.

It’s about the money.

Pope has a lot to sell these days, particularly a robust purse structure fueled by casino-style electronic games of skill that were initially introduced at the track, owned for more than a century by the family of Charles Cella, shortly before the 2000 live season.

But that rich revenue stream, which began flowing through a product called Instant Racing, only figures to grow because of EGS expansion later this year.

“We’re selling what’s going to happen here three to five years from now,” Pope said. “We’re excited about what’s about to happen in 2014. But I’ve got to be honest, I’m looking down the road.”

Purses for the 57-day meeting that begins today are expected to average more than $375,000 daily, up from a record $347,796 last year.

Based on continued strong EGS play, allowance races and maiden special weights events will be worth a record $56,000 and $55,000, respectively, to begin the season. They were worth $54,000 and $53,000 to open the 2013 meeting.

The minimum purse to begin 2014 was raised from $15,500 to $17,000, and all other overnight purses were increased by at least $1,000 over their 2013 starting levels.

Additionally, the purse for 19 of 31 stakes races was raised, and all open events are now worth at least $100,000.

Oaklawn General Manager Eric Jackson said he doesn’t want to look too far ahead regarding purse growth, but he said the next “incremental” stop for maiden special weights, as an example, would be $60,000. Those races were worth $40,000 just two years ago.

“That would be a huge step, but this year we need to demonstrate that we can support what we have right now and, hopefully, build on it as we have every year, I think, since we brought out Instant Racing,” Jackson said. “It’s just been a steady climb. This is what we started working on back in the late 1990s, getting to this point. It’s a great point for Oaklawn to be at.”

After the meeting ends April 12, work will begin on a roughly 55,000-square-foot building addition at the south end of the grandstand that will increase gaming space by approximately 50 percent, Jackson said. The addition should be completed around Thanksgiving Day.

Trainer Will VanMeter, a former assistant to Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, said he believes Oaklawn is poised to become an even bigger player nationally in coming years because the expansion will lead to even bigger purses.

VanMeter, 30, is the son of prominent Kentucky sales consignor Tom VanMeter and worked for Lukas in 2009-2012.

“I think this is going to bethe place to be in the winter,” Will VanMeter said. “You look, the casino is expanding. You have a person that owns the track that, unlike other places, is very committed to the racing. Obviously, other tracks have casinos and stuff, but maybe the management of that place is maybe more focused on the casino than on the racing.

“I think as the casino grows, it’s going to benefit racing.”

VanMeter is scheduled to saddle his first horse at Oaklawn, but other new faces chasing big pots bring established training credentials.

Mark Casse has won seven consecutive training titles at Woodbine near Toronto and is a five-time Sovereign Award winner as Canada’s top trainer. He is scheduled to have around 28 horses at Oaklawn, many for John Oxley , an owner from Tulsa who campaigned 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos.

Josie Carroll, another top trainer at Woodbine, became the first female trainer to win the Queen’s Plate - Canada’s equivalent of the Kentucky Derby - in 2006. RustyArnold, whose horses have earned more than $56 million purse earnings, has several young, well-bred prospects.

Rising star Kellyn Gorder and Jeff Bonde, based in California, have returned after a brief absence.

Newcomers to the riding colony include Jesus Castanon, who won the 2011 Preakness aboard Shackleford; Norberto Arroyo Jr., runner-up for an Eclipse Award as the country’s top apprentice in 2000; Eurico Rosa Da Silva, annually one of the leading riders at Woodbine; and Rafael Manuel Hernandez, a perennial leading rider at Fairmount Park near St. Louis who is represented by noted agent Harry “The Hat” Hacek.

“If things keep growing around Oaklawn Park like it has in the last five or 10 years, it’s just going to be unbelievable,” said Jerry Hissam of Hot Springs, the agent for Castanon and Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel. “They’ve got a heck of a group of horses here.

“Money is what makes everything go around in the world.”

Sports, Pages 19 on 01/10/2014