Fair Grounds commences its 154th racing season Thursday – something that wasn’t assured as recently as June.
In March, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that Fair Grounds, owned by Churchill Downs Inc., had to stop using so-called historical horse racing machines it had begun operating alongside the company’s existing video poker terminals. That ruling combined with the Louisiana legislature passing gambling bills that CDI claimed would dilute its video poker revenue led to an exceedingly strong response.
The company said the loss of purse money generated by the HHR machines might lead CDI to voluntarily surrender its racing license and cease operations, but in mid-June CDI and the Louisiana chapter of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association struck a deal to allow the 2025-26 season to go forward.
CDI claimed in late spring that Fair Grounds purses might drop as much as 25 percent because of the HHR ruling. Purses are in fact lower than at the beginning of last meet – maiden special weights offer a $54,000 pot, $4,000 less than last November – but the deepest cuts were avoided by shortening the racing season. Fair Grounds hosted an 80-day meet in 2022-23 and ran 76 days in the two meetings since, but has only 70 days scheduled this season, though the track has the option of adding two days in March.
The dispute, however, underlined unease among some horsemen that CDI lacks commitment to Fair Grounds racing, with the company particularly focused on Kentucky. Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., offers much higher purses than Fair Grounds, with maiden special weights at that meet worth $100,000. The HHR dispute comes 11 years after the state of Louisiana pressured a recalcitrant CDI to commit about $1 million to overdue Fair Grounds improvements. The track this season is promoting modest improvements to its paddock, winner’s circle, and two hospitality areas.
While horsemen clamor for more races, the shorter meeting – theoretically – could help boost field size and make cards easier to fill. The track averaged 8.09 starters per race during 2024-25 (favorites won at a whopping 42 percent clip), and the racing office this year has to deal with only two of the five-day racing weeks that prove especially challenging. Two three-day weeks in November span Thursday through Saturday with Sunday’s added in December. Standard first post is 12:45 Central but moves to noon on Thanksgiving and the three major stakes programs of the season. Those cards fall on Jan. 17, Feb. 14, and March 21, the latter being Louisiana Derby Day.
Little has changed regarding the roster of Fair Grounds-based trainers and the local jockey colony.
Trainer Peter Eurton runs a Fair Grounds string for the first time, as will Ethan West and Aaron West.
Jose Ortiz rode his first Fair Grounds meet during 2024-25 and dominated,. His 97 winners were 42 more than the next-highest total. Jockey Sofia Vives makes her Fair Grounds debut later this week, while Paco Lopez was named on six mounts Thursday.
In September, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, HISA, suspended Lopez for six months, but HISA has no jurisdiction in Louisiana. Lopez, through Nov. 17, had ridden 13 horses at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., and should have plenty of Fair Grounds business.
The same dynamic applied to trainer Jonathan Wong, suspended two years by HISA in June 2023, and shortly thereafter shifting his operation to Louisiana, where Wong has become a major factor. During 2025, Wong has won 66 races at Louisiana Downs, twice as many as any other trainer. Wong doesn’t have Fair Grounds stalls and ran sparingly last season but figures to participate more actively this meet and sends out the 7-5 morning-line favorite, Rising Inflation, in the John Valene Memorial, one of two $100,000 Louisiana-bred stakes races Thursday.
Rising Inflation won three in a row this year after joining Wong’s barn. The winning streak was halted last month with a fourth-place Delta finish. The Valene play is Clearly a Test, a fast-closing second in the race’s 2024 renewal.
Our Moneyman, a last-start Keeneland maiden winner, tops the $100,000 Joseph R. Peluso Memorial for 2-year-olds, a race in which blowout Delta debut winner Dynamite Tonight will garner plenty of support.
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