Photo: CDI
Through the first half of 2010, horses that raced or
trained at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots last season have gone on to win
15 graded stakes races at other tracks. Two of those races were among the
sport’s most prestigious events—the Belmont
Stakes at Belmont Park
and the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. The Belmont’s
top two finishers, Drosselmeyer and Fly Down, raced over the Fair
Grounds dirt in the Louisiana Derby. In the Foster, the top five finishers—Blame,
Battle Plan, General Quarters, Giant Oak and Demarcation—all
raced or trained at Fair Grounds in March. General Quarters earned his second
Grade I win in Churchill’s Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, while other standouts
include Champagne d’Oro (winner of Belmont’s
Grade I Acorn Stakes) and reigning Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra
(Churchill’s Grade II Fleur de Lis Handicap).
Every year, horses that winter in New Orleans
find success in major stakes races at the most important spring meets, enhancing
the longstanding reputation of Fair Grounds’ dirt track as one that is
especially kind and gets horses supremely fit.
Additional 2010 graded stakes winners that spent a
significant portion of the winter training at Fair Grounds are Grand Adventure
(Woodbine Race Course’s Grade II King Edward Stakes and Grade III Connaught
Cup Stakes), Seeking the Title (Prairie Meadows’ Grade III Iowa Oaks), Comedero
(Pimlico Race Course’s Grade III Chick Lang Stakes, as well as Charles Town’s
ungraded $400,000 Red Legend Stakes), Dubious Miss (Kenneland Race
Course’s Grade III Ben Ali), Free Fighter (Churchill’s Grade III
Louisville Handicap), Country Flavor (Arlington Park’s Grade III Hanshin
Cup Handicap), Tizaqueena (Arlington’s Grade III Arlington Matron Handicap),
Dubai Majesty (Churchill’s Grade III Winning Colors) and Endorsement
(Sunland Park’s Grade III Sunland Derby).
The 139th Thoroughbred Racing Season will run Nov. 25, 2010
to March 27, 2011, highlighted by the 98th Grade II Louisiana Derby on March
26. The complete 2010-2011 stakes schedule will be released later this summer.
To request a stall application for next season, contact the Fair Grounds Racing
Office at (504) 948-1246.