Mudders’ day

HOT SPRINGS - Mother Nature 1, Oaklawn Park 0.

Gloomy skies, chilly temperatures and steady rainfall Friday afternoon combined to clobber business at Oaklawn Park on the first day of its scheduled 57-day live meeting.

On-track figures for Oaklawn’s earliest opening - one day earlier than 2013 - were the softest in recent memory, General Manager Eric Jackson said, adding he couldn’t recall a similar opening-day weather script.

Announced attendance of 15,031 was the smallest on opening day since 2003. On-track mutuel handle of $869,170 represented a 22.3 percent drop over opening day last year.

Blame it on the rain.

“I’ve found a number of cold days on opening day, and a couple where we called it a day,” said Jackson, Oaklawn’s general manager since 1987. “But I have not found one where, basically, it’s been largely rain.”

Persistent rain, at times heavy, turned parts of the infield into small ponds, and left the racing surface sloppy throughout the nine-race card.

It was 52 degrees when racing began at 1:06 p.m. The final race, off at 5:09 p.m., was run in virtual darkness.

“Obviously, the rain hurt today, but as we’ve said over the years, we don’t pay much attention to the numbers this early in the season,” Jackson said. “A week ago, we were wondering if we would race at all. Even though it’s going to depress business numbers, it’s better than what we thought we might experience.”

Jackson was referring to an arctic blast Sunday that yielded low temperatures in the single digits and forced the track to close for training Monday because of a frozen racing surface.

Jackson praised the work of track superintendent Kevin Seymore and his crew for having the track open again for training Tuesday, and for their work leading up to opening day.

“They got on the track Sunday afternoon and didn’t get off the track for 48 hours,” Jackson said. “They did a spectacular job.”

Bobby Geiger, Oaklawn’s director of gaming and wagering, said no major technical snafus were reported Friday.

On-track business was impacted by the weather, but Oaklawn’s numbers were robust off track.

Off-track wagering of $2,074,495 was 13 percent higher than the corresponding day last year.

“And they’re running on chocolate milk,” Geiger said, referring to the mud. “I was just stunned.”

Geiger said he believes strong off-track play was the result of an expanded wagering menu, more exposure because Oaklawn’s races have returned to TVG, the Los Angeles-based horse racing channel, and a record purse distribution.

“There’s a lot of interest in the Oaklawn product,” Geiger said.

Racing resumes today at 1:05 p.m. with a nine-race program headlined by the $100,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses at 1 1/16 miles.

Multiple-stakes winner Cyber Secret, owned by Oaklawn President Charles Cella and trained by Lynn Whiting, is the 7-5 morning-line favorite.

The annual price-rollback promotion is also today, with corned beef sandwiches 50 cents and soft drinks 10 cents.