Stakes anounced for extended meet

Phase two of the Evangeline Downs winter meeting will begin Thursday and continue through March 25. Those dates had tentatively been scheduled to return to Delta Downs, but reconstruction of Delta's barn area, extensively damaged by Hurricane Rita in late September, is not finished. The work is expected to be completed in time for the beginning of Delta's scheduled Quarter Horse meeting April 13.

Evangeline has been hosting Delta's dates since Dec. 1, so the transition into the additional dates should be seamless, as should the move into Evangeline's usual spring/summer meeting, which begins March 30.

Racing secretary Jason Boulet has kept the stakes schedule he inherited from Delta Downs virtually intact, tweaking only a few of the distances. Those changes were necessary because Delta's six-furlong oval differs from Evangeline's one-mile track.

Racing will be conducted on a Wednesday-through-Saturday basis for the additional 40 days of racing. Louisiana Premier Night, a series of six races restricted to Louisiana-breds, is the meeting's highlight on Feb. 18. First race post time will remain at 6:45 p.m. Central.

2006 stakes schedule