The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 9 furlongs on dirt.
In 2004, Oaklawn Park offered a $5 million bonus to any horse that could sweep its three-year-old graded stakes, the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby, and then take the Kentucky Derby. This helped increase participation from the top t...
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The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 9 furlongs on dirt.
In 2004, Oaklawn Park offered a $5 million bonus to any horse that could sweep its three-year-old graded stakes, the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby, and then take the Kentucky Derby. This helped increase participation from the top three-year-olds in the country to the point where the American Graded Stakes Committee made the Arkansas Derby a Grade I race in 2010. Smarty Jones was the first horse to collect the bonus.
Past winners of the Arkansas Derby have gone on to win many American Classic Races. 1980 winner Temperence Hill and 1998's Victory Gallop both went on to capture the Belmont Stakes. Sunny's Halo won the 1983 Kentucky Derby as did Smarty Jones in 2004. Elocutionist (1976), Tank's Prospect (1985), Pine Bluff (1992), Smarty Jones (2004) all won the Preakness...
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