Fair Grounds starts Quarter Horse season

Fair Grounds in New Orleans will pack a whole lot of racing into its 10-date meet for Quarter Horses that opens Friday. The season runs through Sept. 7.

The first card of the meet features three stakes, led by the $40,000 Treme, a restricted Grade 3 that drew a field of 10. The stakes run consecutively, starting in the seventh with the $25,000 Gentilly Dash that drew nine. The $40,000 Audubon goes with 10.

Guidry Pride II is back at Fair Grounds for the Treme, a 350-yard race for 3-year-olds bred in Louisiana. Last season, he was runner-up in the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association Sale Futurity.

Trials for this year’s LQHBA Sale Futurity are being held Saturday. The trials will comprise the entire 11-race card, with 105 horses entered on the program. Each race will be run at 350 yards, with a purse of $12,000.

The finale for the LQHBA Sale Futurity, which has a $400,000-added purse listed in the condition book, will be held Sept. 7. It is the richest race of the meet and will be featured on a program of five stakes. Daily first post is noon Central.