“Of course, I want to produce for my owners and have a really good meet and make some money, but I feel like if you keep the horses happy and healthy that they’re going to produce for you and that’s the biggest thing for me,” Cunningham said. 3 and has had four other starters to date, with her best finish a fourth by Seize the Night in a $148,000 turf allowance Nov.

Wayne Lukas, and running trainer Dallas Stewart’s Oaklawn division the past two seasons.Ĭunningham started her first horse Sept. Jade Cunningham has returned to Oaklawn for the fourth consecutive season, but now she’s the boss and seeking her first career training victory during the 2023-2024 meeting that begins Friday.Ĭunningham, 27, hails from a racing family and struck out on her own last summer in Kentucky after spending the 2021 Oaklawn meeting working under her mentor, Hall of Fame trainer D.

Oaklawn raised the purse of maiden special weight races to $115,000 and allowance events to at least $140,000 – both record levels to open a season – in 2023-2024. I mean, three special weights and you’re splitting allowance races.”Īt least 10 horses were entered in eight races, including a full field of 12 in the featured $150,000 Advent Stakes for 2-year-olds. “Yesterday, you saw entries went very well,” Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said Saturday morning. Entries were taken and post positions drawn last Friday. That 10-race card attracted 114 entrants and 109 starters after scratches.įriday’s card drew 109 entrants (including also eligibles) in an era when foal crops are declining and much lower than 20 years ago. Oaklawn has opened with nine-race cards every year since 1956, with the exception of 2003 when 10 races were run for the first time. Oaklawn is scheduled to run 10 races Friday, which would equal an opening-day record for a track that conducted its first meeting in 1905.

Oaklawn casino careers