LEXINGTON, Ky. — The prep race schedule for the 2022 Kentucky Derby will have a different look.
Officials at Oaklawn Park announced Tuesday that the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby will be run April 2, 2022, five weeks before the May 7, 2022, Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. The Arkansas Derby has been run three weeks before the Derby.
Keeneland’s Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York and the Santa Anita Derby will be run on April 9, four weeks before the Kentucky Derby.
The Florida Derby at Gulfstream and the Arkansas Derby will both be run on April 2.
The purse for the Arkansas Derby will increase from $1 million to $1.25 million in 2022, Oaklawn announced.
The track also announced that the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) will be run on Saturday, Feb. 26. The $750,000 Southwest (G3) will be run Saturday, Jan. 29. The Smarty Jones Stakes will be run on New Year’s Day with a purse that has been increased by $100,000 to $250,000.
The Arkansas Derby has produced three Kentucky Derby winners, including American Pharoah in 2015, Smarty Jones in 2004 and Sunny’s Halo in 1983.
