Oaklawn Park to Host Whitmore Day in 2022

Oaklawn Park will celebrate the 2020 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner and champion male sprinter on March 19, 2022, with Whitmore Day, highlighted by the $200,000 Whitmore Stakes.

Formerly named the Hot Springs Stakes, Whitmore  won the six-furlong race four times during his career for trainer Ron Moquett's Southern Springs Stables, Robert LaPenta, and Head of Plains Partners. He also won the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) three times for a total of seven Oaklawn stakes wins, a record he shares with Swift Ruler.

In another move by Oaklawn to honor Whitmore, the Count Fleet barn, which was Whitmore's winter home for six years, will be renamed the Whitmore barn.

"Whitmore was truly Oaklawn's horse and we're excited to honor his accomplishments with Whitmore Day and the Whitmore Stakes next March," track president Louis Cella said. "It is rare for a horse to compete at the highest level for six straight years and Whitmore did just that, never backing down from a fight. This is why he has such a large following of fans not only in Arkansas but nationwide."

Whitmore Day will also feature an appearance by the champion, Whitmore t-shirts, and the first 5,000 fans will receive a commemorative Whitmore baseball card.

The now 8-year-old Whitmore won an Oaklawn allowance optional claiming race in January 2016 in his 3-year-old debut and went on to place in the track's top 3-year-old stakes—the Southwest Stakes (G3), Rebel Stakes (G2), and Arkansas Derby (G1)—which earned him a spot in that year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1).

Whitmore's top career victories came in the 2018 Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course and in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. He finished fifth in this year's Forego Aug. 28 but was pulled up by jockey Joel Rosario and vanned off out of an abundance of caution. Subsequent tests revealed a minor and treatable injury, but his connections decided to retire him. 

Whitmore earned $4,502,350 and accomplished a 15-13-5 record in 43 starts.

"Oaklawn has always been my home track and it was Whitmore's home track, so it's a huge honor to have a stakes race named for him here," Moquett said. "He was a hard-knocking horse that a lot of people could easily root for whether they put a bet on him or not. The amount of support we have received since his retirement has been overwhelming."