Photo: CDI
Whispering Oaks Farm’s Joe Hollywood, favored at 8-5 in Saturday’s
$75,000 F. W. Gaudin Memorial morning line, faces former Gaudin winner
Cash Refund, owned by
Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein and three others in the sprint for
older horses on the main track, while last year’s local $60,000 A. B.
Leggio winner
Wild About Marie, owned by Ike and Dawn Thrash, is slated as the 4-1 early choice in Saturday’s
$75,000 Pan Zareta
Stakes – a grass dash for fillies and mares at about 5 1/2 furlongs over the
Stall-Wilson turf course.
SPECIAL $100,000-GUARANTEED PICK FOUR SATURDAY
Fair Grounds will offer a special $100,000-Guaranteed
Pick Four on Races 8-11 Saturday, a challenging and potentially
lucrative sequence starting with a 12-horse 3-year-old maiden special
weight and continuing with the competitive, nine-horse
$100,000 Louisiana Handicap, the 13-horse $75,000 Pan Zareta Stakes for
female turf sprinters and the featured Grade III, $175,000 Lecomte
Stakes with a wide-open field of 13 sophomores. The $100,000-Guaranteed
Pick Four is special for the graded stakes day
and is sandwiched between the two everyday Pick Fours on Races 2-5 and
the last four, Races 10-13. Fair Grounds also features the new Black
Gold 5, a jackpot carryover wager beginning on Race 5 that pays the
entire pool to anyone holding the lone perfect ticket.
POST TIMES
First post for Starlight Racing on Friday is 5 p.m.
CST and gates open at 3:30 p.m. First post on Saturday for Road to the
Derby Kickoff Day is a half-hour earlier than normal, at 12:10 p.m. CST,
and gates open at 11 a.m. First post on Sunday
is the usual 12:40 p.m. with gates at 11 a.m.
ADMISSION REMINDER
There is a General Admission charge of $5 on the four
graded stakes days this season: Saturday (Road to the Derby Kickoff
Day), Feb. 25 (Louisiana Derby Preview Day), March 31 (Fair Grounds Oaks
Day) and April 1 (Louisiana Derby Day). Clubhouse
general admission is $10 on those dates.
FORTUS, WEST TO PREVIEW RACES AT SATURDAY SEMINAR
The Times-Picayune’s
Bob Fortus, recently inducted into the Fair Grounds Press Box Hall of Fame, and ESPN.com contributor
Gary West will preview the
Road to the Derby Kickoff Day card at a free handicapping seminar
Saturday morning in the Phoenix Room on the third floor at 11:30 a.m.
FREE “BRISNET.COM EARLY PICK FOUR” PAST PERFROMANCES
Players can access free Ultimate Past Performances for
the “Brisnet.com Early Pick Four” daily at Brisnet.com beginning
Friday. The “Brisnet.com Early Pick Four” starts on Race 2 every day.