Harrah's Dash, Marathon top opening card for Quarter Horses

Louisiana Downs will open its 46-date Quarter Horse meet on Saturday with its longest and shortest stakes races of the season. The Harrah’s Dash will be run over 250 yards and the Marathon is to be contested at 870 yards. They are part of a seven-race opener.

The meet will continue through March 23. The track is set to run every Saturday through Tuesday, with a daily first post of 1 p.m. Central.

Rakin in the Jax will be seeking his fourth straight win when he steps into stakes company for the Marathon, which has a purse of $15,000. He built his streak at Evangeline Downs, with all of his wins coming at 870 yards. The chief threat appears to be Fire On the Fly.

The Harrah’s Dash is led by Scoopies Leaving You, a two-time stakes winner last meet at Evangeline Downs.

Louisiana Downs will put on a total of 12 stakes during the meet. The highest profile races are for 2-year-olds, with the $100,000 Mardi Gras Futurity on March 12. The restricted Grade 2 is for Louisiana-breds at 300 yards. Trials are set for Feb. 20. The Grade 3, $75,000 Harrah’s Futurity, for open company at 300 yards, is March 23. Trials are March 1.

* Nominations for the 2017 runnings of the $3 million All American Futurity, $1 million Rainbow Futurity and $1 million Ruidoso Futurity, close Friday, Jan., 15, according to a release from Ruidoso Downs.