Lone Star: Training races a learning experience

Lone Star Park's meet for Thoroughbreds does not open until April 10, but there will be some live racing at the track before then. Training races are scheduled to be run at the Grand Prairie, Texas, track next Wednesday. There is also a training-race program scheduled for March 12. The races will begin at 11:30 a.m. Central.

Lone Star put on its first round of training races Feb. 13. There were four races for Thoroughbreds, featuring unraced 3-year-olds, and nine for Quarter Horses. The races are not a requirement for first-time starters at the upcoming meet, said Jeanette Hughes, the assistant racing secretary at Lone Star, but are a service for horsemen.

"Most of them really like it for the experience," Hughes said.

She said the races also provide official gate works for horses who qualify. And a number of the Quarter Horse races feature 2-year-olds preparing for rich futurity trials in the region, said Hughes.