The Road to the Kentucky Derby at Oaklawn Park reaches the end on Saturday, when the track hosts the $1.5 million dollar, Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.

A deep and talented field of ten will travel 1 ⅛ miles on the main Oaklawn track in search of the prestigious Win that also includes maximum Derby qualifying points.

The Winner will get 100 points, while the runner-up will receive 50, the 3rd-place finisher 25, with 15 going to the 4th-place finisher and 10 for the 5th-place horse.

The race was first contested in 1936 and has been held every year since then except in 1945 due to World War II.

In 2020, it was delayed and held on May 2nd, (the original date of the 2020 Kentucky Derby), due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many years the Arkansas Derby was held three weeks prior to the Kentucky Derby, but in 2021 the race was moved two weeks earlier on the Stakes calendar to give competitors five weeks in-between the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Derby.

The race has been a Grade 1 since 2010; it was also held as a Grade 1 from 1981 to 1988.

The $1.5 million dollar purse makes the Arkansas Derby the richest Derby prep race in North American.

Among those running Saturday will be proven Grade 1 Winners TIMBERLAKE and MUTH along with a couple of accomplished prep race Winners- MYSTIK DAN and LIBERAL ARTS.