Three stakes help kick off 80-day Fair Grounds meeting

Fair Grounds begins an 80-day 2022-23 racing season Friday with ample green in the purse account, not so much on its grass course.

The historic New Orleans racecourse, owned since 2004 by Churchill Downs Inc., pushed up the traditional Thanksgiving opening this year to more easily accommodate the minimum number of racing days Louisiana law requires the track to run.

But Fair Grounds won’t be able to make proper use of its grass course, a key differentiator from turf-less regional competitor Oaklawn Park, until sometime in December, and that’s a best-case scenario.

The inner part of the course lost vitality after especially wet weather during late summer and early autumn was followed by weeks of drought; it’s unsuitable for regular use as the meet begins. Fair Grounds will place its temporary turf rail 27 feet out from the zero position and run a limited number of races on the course’s outside until the inner portion of grass sufficiently grows back, a process very much dependent on weather and tricky this time of year.

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No turf races are carded for Friday’s first program. Fair Grounds will pay out at least $403,000 in purses on the nine-race card. Three $75,000 stakes for Louisiana-breds boost that figure, but overnight prize money will be appealing enough, with maiden special weight races starting the meet at $50,000. That’s still a far cry from the maiden pots at CDI’s flagship track, Churchill Downs.

CDI has fortified Fair Grounds’s stake schedule, with all but two of its open stakes races worth six figures. In total, 65 stakes worth about $8.5 million are scheduled during the meet, which ends March 26. All the most meaningful stakes come on four days: Dec. 26, Jan. 21, Feb. 18, and March 25. The February card features the Rachel Alexandra for 3-year-old fillies and the Risen Star for 3-year-olds, with the $1 million Louisiana Derby, the $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks, and the $500,000 New Orleans Classic anchoring the card in March.

Racing weeks generally span Thursday through Sunday with first post set for 1:05 p.m. Central. The racing week deviates around holidays and expands during March to include Wednesdays. First post on opening day is 3 p.m., and the major stakes days begin at noon.

Fair Grounds has reduced takeout on its pick five from 25 percent to 15 percent and added to the wagering menu a pick six with a $1 base bet and 15 percent takeout. The pick six, which is not a jackpot bet, spans the last six races on programs, while most cards offer two pick fives. If there’s no winning ticket on a pick five sequence, the pool, less takeout, carries over to the next racing day’s late pick five.

The trainer and jockey colonies don’t fill out until early December, because many Fair Grounds horsemen race at Churchill’s ongoing meet, which ends Nov. 27.

James Graham has won the last two Fair Grounds riding titles and comes back for a third, with Florent Geroux returning to winter at Fair Grounds after being based at Oaklawn Park last season. Corey Lanerie is expected to ride the meet, while David Cohen has mounts opening day.

The pillars of the training population, outfits with the maximum stall allotment, haven’t changed since last season: Tom Amoss, Steve Asmussen, Bret Calhoun, Brad Cox, Joey Foster, Joe Sharp, Al Stall, Mike Stidham, and Shane Wilson. Kenny McPeek, who had a Fair Grounds string in the early 1990s and then again from 2016 to 2018, was given 28 stalls. John Ortiz, stabled at Fair Grounds for the first time since the 2019-20 season, has 16 stalls, while trainers Brian Williamson and Cesar Govea, neither of whom has run a horse at Fair Grounds, have 14 and 15 stalls.

Trainer Jose Camejo started the 2021-22 season strong, going 8-6-4 with his first 30 starters, and has the most likely winner on the Friday card in Ova Charged, who should rule the $75,000 Happy Ticket, the last of the three Louisiana-bred stakes.

For Louisiana-bred fillies and mares at six furlongs, the Happy Ticket drew nine entrants, and eight of them will struggle to come anywhere near Ova Charged. A homebred owned by 2021-22 Fair Grounds leading owner Brittyln Stable, Ova Charged brings a record of 5-1-0 from her six-start career into the Happy Ticket, with her lone loss coming to Souper Sensational in the Grade 3 Victory Ride some 16 months ago. The Victory Ride also was Ova Charged’s lone start without Lasix. Even if Friday’s race, her first since March 27, serves as a prep for Louisiana Champions Day next month, Ova Charged should win at a very short price.

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The two fastest horses in the Big World Stakes, a two-turn contest for fillies and mares, are Winning Romance and Cheapskate Diva. Both employ the same front-running style in route races and could hook up on a protracted pace battle. Winning Romance possesses the much longer track record of statebred stakes success, but Cheapskate Diva, who only came to hand this past summer, won her lone dirt route race by nearly 11 lengths. Fort Polk would be the obvious beneficiary of a speed duel.

Janet Is Ready and Free Drop Maddy look like the shortest prices in the Donovan Ferguson, for 2-year-old fillies over 5 1/2 furlongs. Don’t ignore Pursuit l’Harmonie, a first-time starter for Brittlyn and Camejo, who eschew the maiden ranks and go straight to a stakes with a filly they must like.

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