Fair Grounds targets Dec. 26 for return to turf racing

Fair Grounds will attempt to run turf races for the first time during its 2022-23 racing season on Dec. 26, the 22nd day of their race meeting.

The grass course, a key component to the track’s racing program, was damaged this fall by what officials for Churchill Downs Inc., Fair Grounds’s parent company, called a perfect storm of weather-related events. The New Orleans area underwent a period of drought conditions, which can lead saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico to flow up the Mississippi River and creep into fresh water supplies. Fair Grounds was watering the course in the absence of rain, and the well that was used for irrigation became contaminated with salt water. Water runs down from the crown of the course’s banked oval and thus it was the inner portion of the turf that was worst affected.

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Fair Grounds initially announced a reduced early-season grass schedule with limited races to be run on the outer lanes, a plan that was abandoned Nov. 24, six days after the meet opened. But after racing officials inspected the course Thursday, the decision was made to try and run two stakes races, the Blushing K. D. and the Buddy Diliberto Memorial, on Dec. 26. Two more turf stakes, the Woodchopper and the Pago Hop, will be carded Dec. 31.

The temporary turf rail, according to CDI executive director of racing Gary Palmisano, will be set at 34 feet, farther out than the usual outermost rail position, and races will be limited to eight runners. Palmisano said CDI and Fair Grounds were “very pleased with the progress of the outer portion of the course, and the team is working diligently on the inner portion.”

Palmisano said the grass-racing schedule beginning in January depends on how the course performs over the next two weeks.

Fair Grounds is averaging 7.13 starters per race this meet, a far lower number than typical for the track. Through Thursday there had been 127 races during the meet compared to 158 through a comparable period during the 2021-22 season.

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