Turf racing is scheduled to return to Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans, La., for the “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” card, to be held on Monday, Dec. 26.
With the portable rail set at 34 feet, fields will be limited to eight runners for the $100,000 Blushing KD and the $100,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial. With the same parameters, turf racing will again be conducted on Dec. 31 with the runnings of the $100,000 Pago Hop and the $100,000 Woodchopper.
Racing over the Stall-Wilson turf course was put on hold early in the meet that opened Nov. 18 because of damage to the inner portion of the oval from the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival, which was followed by unusually rainy weather and then a drought. Similar problems occurred during the 2012-'13 racing season at Fair Grounds, leading to numerous races being taken off turf, sometimes several days after rains hit the area.
“Going forward from there, we will monitor the condition of the course and run a limited number of turf races as the course allows,” said executive director of racing Gary Palmisano, Jr. “If all goes well, as is expected, the racing office will look to add turf races to the new condition book, which starts Jan. 5.”
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