Remembering 'The Boss,' Oaklawn owner Charles Cella

Like George Steinbrenner and Bruce Springsteen, Charles J. Cella became known as "The Boss." And no one at Oaklawn Park had to explain.

In almost a half-century as the Hot Springs, Ark., track's president, Cella surrounded himself with the best and the brightest in Thoroughbred racing, yet did things the Cella way. That sons John and Louis continued the family tradition as fifth-generation racing executives pleased their father to no end.

Cella had certain ideas about racetrack management, softening some stances while holding fast to others. When Oaklawn came under siege economically from racetracks and gaming centers in other states, Cella said he would rather close the track than convert it into a casino. Yet, Cella lived to see it become Oaklawn Racing and Gaming (note the order) and as a trendsetter in both areas.

A racing purist if ever one existed, Cella long allowed only the barest of wagering menus -- win, place, show and an early daily double. Yet during the track's first boom period in the early 1980s, Oaklawn averaged more than 23,000 fans and handled more than $3.1 million while racing six days a week. In time, Oaklawn allowed most of the wagering options found at an average track. And, through a 1990 agreement with Arlington Park, Oaklawn ushered in the era of simulcast wagering.

Oaklawn rolled with the flow concerning medication, lifting a ban on the race day use of Lasix to control bleeding in thoroughbreds. Despite grumbling a little, Cella even consented to listing blinker changes in the daily program.

But for most of his tenure, Cella held the line against "baby racing" at Oaklawn, considering it imprudent for listed 2-year-olds to race during the track's late winter and early spring dates.

Admittedly unprepared to succeed his late father as track president in 1968, Cella brought in like-minded thinkers to ease the transition. W.T. Bishop, known as "the man who built Keeneland," came in as general manager to continue the racetrack expansion begun by the late J. Sweeney Grant. Eric Jackson, Bishop's successor as GM, helped launch Instant Racing, a parimutuel game based on past races that effectively saved Oaklawn during its darkest hour.

Cella counted among his close friends Keeneland executives James E. "Ted" Bassett and J.B. Faulconer along with Arlington Park executive Richard L. "Dick" Duchossois. Cella lived long enough to see Louis Cella, his son, join The Jockey Club and become the third generation of this family to serve on the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations.

Cella grew up in St. Louis and dreamed of becoming the next Stan Musial, though owning a Kentucky Derby winner remained No. 1 on his bucket list until his death Dec. 6 at age 81. That, he could not do, although he operated a solid racing stable that won several major races.

Cella's highest moment as a Thoroughbred owner came with Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally and the Irish-born import Northern Spur, whose Breeders' Cup Turf victory at Belmont Park clinched the Eclipse Award as top male turf horse of 1995. In later years, Cella's colors were represented in his own winner's circle by Cyber Secret, winner of the Oaklawn and Razorback handicaps in 2013 when trained by the late Lynn Whiting.

While accepting congratulations after the Oaklawn Handicap, Cella deflected credit: “It’s not about me owning the track. It’s about the horse. He’s such a great horse and he has a great trainer.”

During the track's 2004 centennial racing season, Cella offered $5 million for a three-race sweep including the Kentucky Derby. Smarty Jones proved up to the challenge, almost winning the Triple Crown. Cella presented the bonus in a ceremony at Philadelphia Park (a concession to Smarty Jones' ailing owner), a magnanimous gesture that earned Cella and his family an Eclipse Award Order of Merit the following year.

Oaklawn basked in the glory of American Pharoah's 2015 Triple Crown sweep after Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert sent the colt to Hot Springs for winning prep races in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby. 

“I thought it was spectacular,” Cella said in a 2015 interview with Daily Racing Form. “The horse proved something special, running into history. I must have gotten a hundred calls after the race."

That compensated for not hosting a $5 million Apple Blossom Handicap in 2010 with unbeaten Zenyatta, the reigning Breeders' Cup Classic winner, and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Zenyatta came anyway, winning the Apple Blossom for the second time in three years -- the only victories outside California on the super mare's 20-race record.

From A to Z, American Pharoah to Zenyatta, Oaklawn became a national racing center in Cella's time. And, no one had to ask who was "The Boss."

Bob Wisener covers horse racing for The Sentinel-Record of Hot Springs, Ark., where he was sports editor for 37 years.