HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – After setting handle records on back-to-back weekends last month, Oaklawn Park moved into a new stratosphere Saturday afternoon, when it handled $41 million. It came on a 14-race card led by two divisions of the Arkansas Derby won by the Bob Baffert trainees Charlatan and Nadal. The day more than doubled Oaklawn’s all-time mark of $19 million bet on 11 races during the Apple Blossom card on April 18. A week earlier, $16.9 million was bet on 12 races on the Oaklawn Stakes card on April 11 to surpass the all-time mark of $16.2 million achieved last year on the March 16 card featuring two divisions of the Rebel. All of this developed against an unusual and somber backdrop. There were no fans in the grandstand at one of racing’s most popular venues from March 13 through closing day Saturday. This was due to restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to the cancellation or suspension of racing at most tracks in North America. “It’s been a unique meet,” Lou Cella, president of Oaklawn, said last week in an interview with Daily Racing Form. “Needless to say, our ontrack business is substantially down, but our offtrack business has in fact seen increases. “But while we’re allowed to operate, the reality is so many other sports are not and we – meaning the handful of tracks that are operating – really are the only sports that are out there. And we could have never imagined, or budgeted, or forecasted, how play would be offtrack. It just shows you how many folks out there – and we don’t know – are either new to the sport or they followed other tracks and not ours. But we have seen a true increase on our offtrack signal, which means they like our product.” The lack of ontrack patrons has cost Oaklawn revenue streams from such areas as concessions, program sales, and reserved seats. The track’s casino also has been closed since the middle of March. The casino is a key driver of purses, but the surge in offtrack handle has offered some relief. “What it’s doing is generating purse money for next year,” Cella said. “That’s the bottom line.” The casino could resume operation by the end of the month. “We’re creating an opening plan, which we will share with the governor’s office and of course, the racing commission,” Cella said. “The governor rightly has created phases to reopen the state. We’re hopeful we’ll get into the third phase – end of May or early June. “That’s assuming everything goes right.” Due to the fluid nature of commerce right now, Oaklawn has asked both the Arkansas Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the Arkansas Racing Commission to allow it to put off submitting a dates request for 2021 until the summer. Cella said Oaklawn needs to assess business figures from this meet and the eventual reopening of the casino to help it forecast purses for 2021. He said Oaklawn plans to run in the same time frame of January to early May next year, but there might be some reduction in days from its typical 57-date meet. “We don’t know,” Cella said. “We need to wait until the dust settles a bit to see how it plays out in the future.” At this point, Oaklawn’s much-anticipated hotel project is still on schedule to open in late December or early January, Cella said. As for this unprecedented meet, the only thing he could remotely liken it to in the 116-year history of Oaklawn is when the season was once postponed to the fall due to World War II restrictions in 1945. “Walking through the grandstand is bizarre during races,” Cella said. “We all pray that we don’t have to do this again.”