Louisiana Downs cancels racing through Wednesday

Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, which is conducting a meet for Quarter Horses, has called off racing from Saturday through Wednesday due to extensive flooding in the area, said Trent McIntosh, the track’s director of operations. McIntosh said an ontrack casino was closed down at 1 p.m. Central on Friday.

Louisiana Downs began evacuating horses Thursday night and had less than 100 head left to move as of midafternoon Friday, according to McIntosh. Louisiana Downs is scheduled to race through March 24.

The cancellation through Wednesday includes one of the biggest cards of the meet at Louisiana Downs. The Grade 2, $273,054 Mardi Gras Futurity and the $86,190 Mardi Gras Derby were to be run Saturday. Louisiana Downs had an extended race week coming up, as it was to run five days.

The track and horsemen are in ongoing communication concerning the cancellations and potential plans going forward, but there are no concrete answers at present because the pressing issue is the extreme flooding.

“We’re playing the weather thing day by day,” said McIntosh.