Great Oaklawn Story

[jman5581]

My friend and I were at Oaklawn all day today....it just so happened that we found ourselves situated in the unoccupied box of a man by the name of John Anthony. We'd sat there pretty much all day because it was blustery outside and this box was not being used (it's right on the main finish line). The usher never said anything to us until about race 7 where he came by and jokingly said "John told me 2 young men were going to be using his box today, are you guys comfortable?" He kind of gave us the wink and nod and before he left said Mr. Anthony will be here a little later. So, we sat there for the 7th and here comes Mr. Anthony sure enough in time for the 8th, 9th and 10th (Count Fleet) races. I have no idea who the guy is at first. We were getting ready to leave the box when he said "No, you guys can stay, I'm alone, just scoot over and give me some room." It was a little awkward at first as he didn't say a word more and just thumbed through his racing form. Soon, I broke the ice by telling him this was our first trip to Oaklawn and asked how long he'd been coming to the track. He said "Oh, about 50 years." Nice, just half a century.

So, I butter him up a little bit and we talk about race 9 and 10. Soon I start telling him how I'm in a partneship that owns a filly that just raced at Keeneland this past week. He asked how she finished, I said, "Dead last. But it was expected." He said, "Unfortunately you have to kiss a few frogs." I didn't want to be argumentative, so I just said she's been in the money 4 out of 6 starts now.

He didn't say much else about it, so I asked him if he was an owner. He said, "I've owned a few and worked with most of these trainers on this program." He then proceeds to tell me he won the 1993 Preakness with Prairie Bayou. So, I was a little intimidated at that point. All I could think to say was, "Well, that's quite an accomplishment" or something to that effect. He then goes on to say, "I also owned Pine Bluff who won it in 1992." Uhhhhhhhh....right. The guy was just so ordinary, my friend couldn't appreciate it but I was now grateful to be sitting in this guy's box. So, he basically stayed long enough to see Bordonaro win the Count Fleet ( a little over an hour ) and give me a bad pick on the 4....but before he left he told us he would be there tomorrow (Derby Day) and to come by and see him. He's going to be "upstairs" later in the day and we can have his box (right on the finish line) then in his absence. As some of you may know, we came down to Hot Springs with NO tickets for tomorrow. We were planning on standing all day and finding a seat where we could. Now, thanks to this chance encounter, we will be sitting amongst the "connections" for the Arkansas Derby.

Here are some links I found about John Anthony and his dealings with the ill-fated Prairie Bayou and Pine Bluff ('92 Arkansas Derby winner). Turns out, he is a prominent lumberman in Arkansas which is what he does to fund his horse business This has been a great day....so glad we came.


http://www.oaklawn.com/this-season/n...iew.asp?id=317
http://www.oaklawn.com/this-season/n...iew.asp?id=309