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Jockey Jon Court Gets 700th Oaklawn Win Friday

Jon Court reached a riding milestone in 2021 at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., after all.

Court, 61, was poised for his 700th career local victory when he moved his tack to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in late April, about two weeks before Oaklawn's 2021 live meeting ended.

“(Seven hundred) will be my goal upon my 2022 return,” Court said in a parting text April 23.

Times change, but the number didn't.

Oaklawn announced in June that an expanded racing calendar for the upcoming season would feature a December opening for the first time in its 117-year history.

Stalled at 699 since April 9, Court reached the milestone when he won Friday's fifth race aboard Unbridled Twister ($6.20) for trainer Al Cates of Hot Springs. It was Court's second and final mount on the opening-day card, which drew an estimated crowd of 15,000. Only five other riders in Oaklawn history have reached 700 career victories.

“Isn't that amazing?” Court said Saturday morning. “It was so exciting. It gave me butterflies to think, 'Wow! I've actually made it,' because at the end of last year's meet I had run so many second and thirds, I thought I'm just snakebit.”

Court said his wife, Rosemary, reminded him that the wait to 700 may not be as long as he initially believed. Oaklawn's live season was originally scheduled to begin in late January, a more traditional spot, before the date was amended.

“My mind is programmed to think every first of the year we come here,” Jon Court said. “I said to her, 'That's right, I do have a chance to get to 700.' Not only do I have a chance, but the cards fell favorably. There seemed to be a useful sense of excitement for me to do it in 2021. When I left the meet, it was, 'Oh, man, I tried so hard. I'm one win away.' But it was fun. It's always been fun and there's a lot of energy and excitement. I'm just enjoying the journey.”

Court rode his first winner at Oaklawn in 1981 and was leading rider in 2000 with 69 victories. He has 35 career stakes victories at Oaklawn, including consecutive runnings of the $1 million Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in 2010 and 2011. Court won 11 races last season at Oaklawn.

Pat Day, the late Larry Snyder, Calvin Borel, John Lively, and Tim Doocy are the only other riders in Oaklawn history to reach 700 career victories. Day rode a record 1,264 winners at Oaklawn, his last coming in 2004. Borel, also a member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, is still active at Oaklawn and had 973 victories through Friday.

Court said he has no plans to stop at 700.

“Full steam ahead,” he said.

Court is represented by longtime friend Larry Baker, who began booking mounts for the jockey last spring.

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Arrieta Sweeps Final Four Races At Oaklawn Friday

Jockey Francisco Arrieta recorded his biggest career day at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., after sweeping the final four races on Friday's nine-race opening-day program, including the inaugural $150,000 Advent Stakes for 2-year-old sprinters aboard Kavod ($8.40) for trainer Chris Hartman.

Arrieta, 33, recorded a riding triple, his previous single-day Oaklawn best, on closing day of the 2021 meeting, May 1.

“Unbelievable,” Arrieta said following the Advent, Oaklawn's first stake for 2-year-olds since 1973.

Arrieta also won the sixth race aboard favored Botswana ($5.40) for trainer Bentley Combs, seventh race aboard favored Hypersport ($4.40) for trainer Ingrid Mason and the ninth race aboard Jets a Ginnin ($12) for trainer Scott Becker. The four-bagger pushed Arrieta's purse earnings this year to more than $5 million, a career high.

A native of Venezuela, Arrieta began riding in the United States in 2012 and had ridden extensively the past few years in New Mexico, Arizona, and Minnesota before hiring agent Jay Fedor and changing circuits. Arrieta relocated to Oaklawn for the first time for the 2021 meeting and made a huge splash in the rider standings, finishing third in victories (50) and purse earnings ($3,100,250). Arrieta recorded his first career Oaklawn stakes victory in last April's $200,000 Bachelor for 3-year-old sprinters aboard Jaxon Traveler for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Arrieta was based in Kentucky for the first time following last season's Oaklawn meet.

“I felt like it was a good move coming here,” Arrieta said. “I've been growing here. I was jumping around. It's my second year here, so I feel like I'm home now. A lot of people know me already. I've been riding for the same people in Kentucky and they're coming back, so now they know me and trust me. Hopefully, it will be better than last year.”

Arrieta was leading rider in 2019 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., and won 250 races overall that year to rank eighth nationally.

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Asmussen Starts Bid For Another Oaklawn Championship With Two Winners Opening Day

Hall of Famer and perennial Oaklawn champion Steve Asmussen saddled two winners on Friday's opening-day card, pushing his career total in Hot Springs to 757 (No. 2 all time).

Asmussen won the second race with Requisition ($9) and the fourth race with favored Chicken Hawk ($5.40) to grab an early lead in the standings. Asmussen and the late Hall of Famer Henry Forrest share the Oaklawn record for career training titles with 11.

Asmussen returns to Oaklawn after winning a meet-high 60 races, including eight stakes, during the 2021 live season. He also set a single-season record for purse earnings ($6,057,877).

“We're obviously very fortunate,” Asmussen said during training hours Friday morning at Oaklawn. “We've sent some extremely talented horses. Oaklawn offers the opportunity to run for good purses. Obviously, I like and am very comfortable with the stakes schedule here. Expecting a big meet.”

Asmussen holds career Oaklawn records for stakes victories and purse earnings, 96 and $41,762,480, respectively, through Friday.

Asmussen also was Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Asmussen is North America's all-time winningest trainer (United States and Canada) with 9,564 through Friday, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization.

The late Bob Holthus is the only other trainer in Oaklawn history to reach 800 victories in Hot Springs. Holthus won nine Oaklawn training titles.

Friday's second race marked Oaklawn's first for 2-year-olds since March 27, 1975.

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Remington Park Honors Retiring General Manager Scott Wells Friday

Remington Park president and general manager Scott Wells will always be the answer to one trivia question in connection with Oklahoma horse racing: Who was the first trainer to win a race when parimutuel racing returned to the state in 1984?

Wells was that trainer with a horse named Ye Song. There is nothing trivial about Wells' career after that, however. He was honored at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Friday night as he prepares to retire at the end of this Thoroughbred meet on Dec. 17.

When Wells announced his retirement, the chief executive officer of Global Gaming Solutions, who owns Remington Park, Skip Seeley, spoke highly of him in glowing terms.

“Scott Wells is an icon in the horse racing industry and a mainstay at Remington Park across parts of four decades,” Seeley said. “His steady guidance and his deep expertise of track operations have been integral to the success of both Remington Park and Lone Star Park in Texas. He helped create Remington Park as a destination in the racing industry and he leaves a legacy of superlative service both to horsemen and racing fans in Oklahoma, across the country and around the world.”

Wells' career in the industry reads like a Who's Who of National and International Racing.

Wells started in the business as an assistant to his father, Ted, who was quite the horseman in his own right, being inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame posthumously in 2014. Ted came to be known as one of the top Quarter Horse trainers of his era, conditioning Savannah Jr to World Champion honors two years in a row.

Having garnered the knowledge and inherited the talent of his father, Wells worked for him at the Wells Ranch in Pawhuska Okla., one of the nation's largest breeders of Quarter Horse racing. After getting his start, Scott accepted a debate scholarship at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, before traveling to France in his junior year. While abroad, Wells rekindled the fire he had for horse racing. Returning to the states he was fortunate to catch on with a young trainer named D. Wayne Lukas. Lukas would go on to gain fame with 20 wins in Breeders' Cup races and be inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame. He mentored Wells until the next rung in the ladder would form with a move to another Hall of Famer's barn, Jack Van Berg. Van Berg won the Kentucky Derby with Alysheba in 1987.

After two stints with Hall of Fame trainers, it was time for Wells to venture out on his own as a trainer. The native Oklahoman spent 17 years in the business as a licensed trainer and it included that win in 1984 at Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla., the state's first pari-mutuel race in decades. Wells raced his horses in 14 different states before turning his sights on the track management side of the business.

Remington Park opened in Oklahoma City in 1988. Wells became a columnist for the Daily Racing Form in 1990, the same year he would begin a stint with Remington Park racetrack management. Through 1992, Wells climbed successfully upward in Remington Park's ranks. After two years in Oklahoma City, Wells packed his bags for the West Coast where Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, Calif., hired him as assistant GM. From there he became GM of Ruidoso Downs in the mountains of New Mexico. While there, he was the co-founder of the Ruidoso Downs Hall of Fame, originally installed at the Land of Enchantment state's Museum of the Horse.

Following his stay in New Mexico, Wells' feet became itchy for foreign soil once again. He became Director of Racing for the national racetracks of Mexico and Uruguay as well as a consultant to other Latin racing countries. He carried that knowledge back to the States with him in 2004 when he became the president and GM for Remington Park. For more than 16 years, he has led the track back from obscurity into the national spotlight with horses coming out of the Springboard Mile going into the Kentucky Derby the following year. While holding the top positions at the Oklahoma City track, he also became a leader for Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, in 2013 with the same titles.

“It's a great feeling tonight being honored,” Wells said. “Horse racing is like a family with all the workers at Remington Park and Lone Star that have made us such a success. I came in following the example set by David Vance when he opened this track in 1988. Then joining and rebuilding with Matt Vance (executive vice president of racing operations) and Mike Chapple (VP of gaming operations).”

Wells also served three terms as President of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and three terms on the Board of Trustees of the American Horse Council. He has also authored three books – The Nicodemus Era, What A Way to Go, and Teaching Narcissus to Swim.

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In 2022, Wells will be inducted into the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Despite the mountain of accolades earned in his career, Wells claims one event as the greatest moment of his life over the past 25 years, when he married his wife Mellyn.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Dec. 4 with the first race at 7:07 pm Central.

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