Horses Evacuated as Oaklawn Training Center Floods

Crisis was averted at the Ten Mile Creek Training Center in Benton, Ark., April 5 thanks to the fast-moving and dedicated racing community. As flood waters began to fill the barn area, they managed to evacuate all 68 resident Thoroughbreds to safety.

The training center is located about 17 miles west of Oaklawn Park, which purchased the facility in 2021, and is located alongside Tenmile Creek. The creek connects to the South Fork Saline River about five miles east of the training center.

Severe weather had been forecast for the area, causing Oaklawn to postpone its Saturday card to Sunday preemptively. As of 1:30 p.m. CT Saturday, the area had received around 5 inches of rain in the previous 24 hours, and a flood warning that lasts through the late morning of April 8 has been issued by the National Weather Service.

“Our thoughts are with the entire Oaklawn Park community as they endure the devastating impact of the flooding that occurred Saturday, April 5, at Oaklawn Park’s Ten Mile Creek Training Center,” said National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association CEO Eric Hamelback in a statement. “All horsemen are deeply concerned for the well-being of the horses, horsemen, and their families affected by this severe flooding.

“At the National HBPA, we are more than an organization—we are a family. When one of our communities faces hardship, we all feel it.”

Trainer Ron Moquett, who is an Arkansas HBPA board member, had 26 horses stabled at Ten Mile Creek.

“I’m very thankful for all the horsemen who showed up to evacuate all the horses and people,” Moquett said in the statement. “The Arkansas HBPA, the National HBPA Foundation, and its Assistance Committee stand ready to aid those in need. We are actively monitoring the situation and will be coordinating with Arkansas HBPA executive director Jeanette Milligan and track management to ensure that help reaches those who need it most.

“To the horsemen and women impacted: You are not alone. We are here for you, and we will stand with you through the recovery process.”

Reached by BloodHorse Saturday afternoon, Moquett recalled the scene that had unfolded earlier that morning.

“Everything was good at 4 o’clock (in the morning), and then at 4:30, it wasn’t. We were in a rush,” Moquett told BloodHorse. “It went from everything’s perfect and we handled all the rain to the levee broke somewhere and it went crazy fast.”

The water quickly became waist deep, forcing Moquett and his team to move horses out the back of the barn as the front entrance became impassable.

“It was waist-deep running water and we had to go on the track behind the barn, which is higher, to get to a jumping spot were we could go over a little ravine,” he said.

As the going got tough, the racing community got tougher. Moquett said the National and Arkansas HBPA were immediate in offering their help and that several friends and community members in the area departed their homes to help without being prompted. That quick response without a second thought did not surprise Moquett in the least. In fact, he said it’s a reason why he fell in love with the sport.

“It’s a community that’s hard to describe,” said Moquett. “If you have a horse overheating on the track, everybody grabs water. That’s one of the things that drew me to the sport: the thought of community. I work for that with the HBPA, I believe in it, and I think it goes unsaid a lot. Whenever something like this happens and you see the people jump in—you’re not paying them anything, it’s flooding everywhere, they’re using their gas and trucks. Everybody’s helping everybody. You don’t want to see a fireman, you want to see a horseman. Not that I don’t appreciate firemen, but if it’s dealing with a horse, you know for a fact a horseman is coming around the corner to help. I wasn’t surprised at all, I was like, ‘Yep, that’s what they do.'”

All 68 horses were transported to Oaklawn Park, which, for now, has avoided any issues from the storm aside from minor flooding in the infield, according to Moquett. Moquett said around 2 p.m. CT that his evacuated horses had already received baths, been fed, and were resting in their new Oaklawn stalls as if nothing had ever happened.

“They probably aren’t as worked up about it as we are,” Moquett said.