Rice confirms small stable for Fair Grounds meet

In 37 years of training horses, Linda Rice has never started a horse at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.

That’s about to change.

Rice confirmed Sunday that she plans to open up a small stable at Fair Grounds at the 2024-25 meet that begins on Nov. 22. Rice said the stable, numbering six or so horses, will be comprised mostly of turf horses that she wasn’t ready to turn out for the winter.

“Rather than shut them down, I thought we’d find a spot to go with them, experiment, and see how it goes,” Rice said.

Rice recently became the sport’s all-time winningest female trainer with 2,517 career victories.

Among the horses she plans to ship are Kick a Buck, who finished seventh in a starter allowance at Aqueduct on Saturday; Positive Carry, a 3-year-old filly she claimed in July from Chad Brown for $75,000 who finished third in her first start for Rice at that same level in October; and Time Song, a 3-year-old gelding she claimed last month for $40,000 who she has yet to run back.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.