New Oaklawn Park track announcer Vic Stauffer was the featured speaker Jan. 11 at the Jockey Club Kick Off at the Wyndham Riverfront hotel in North Little Rock. Stauffer spoke to a crowd of about 275 which included horse-racing fans, owners, track personnel, state Racing Commission members and a few jockeys.
Stauffer, only the sixth announcer in the 113-year history of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, was formerly track announcer at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. He shared a little about his career in which he has called more than 44,000 races. He also paid tribute to former Oaklawn track announcer Terry Wallace, saying he was the true voice of Oaklawn Park.
Stauffer also spoke about the quality of racing at Oaklawn.
"In a 10-year span, four of the 10 horses that were named Horse of the Year raced at Oaklawn Park -- Zenyatta, Curlin, Rachel Alexandra and American Pharaoh," he said listing the four.
"So when they say, 'Well it's just a little race track in Hot Springs, Arkansas,' we all know very different, don't we? That's what keeps us coming back to this wonderfully phenomenal racing facility, because we know we are going to get to some horse, some jockey, some team that is indeed very, very special."
Sponsors of the reception and dinner were Oaklawn Jockey Club and Frank Fletcher Racing. A portion of the proceeds from the dinner went to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund with the rest going toward the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce's educational programs. The racing season at Oaklawn Park runs through mid-April, ending with the Arkansas Derby on April 15.
High Profile on 01/22/2017