Fair Grounds has boosted the purses of eight open-company races on its
2012-2013 stakes schedule released Thursday, marking the third straight year the
average stakes purse has increased at the New Orleans racetrack. Last season the
track raised purses on 19 stakes events.
The 84-day 141st Thoroughbred Racing Season — running Nov. 22, 2012 to March
31, 2013 — will feature 56 stakes cumulatively worth $7,435,000, highlighted by
the milestone 100th running of the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on March
30. The average stakes purse at Fair Grounds will be worth $132,768 and half of
the stakes, 28 of 56, will carry six-figure amounts.
The majority of the stakes increases went to five of the track’s 10 graded
stakes.
The first two legs of Fair Grounds’ three-race graded stakes series for
three-year-olds received significant boosts. The Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes will
be worth $400,000 (a $100,000 increase) and the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes will be
run for $200,000 (a $25,000 bump).
Two important graded events for older horses — the Grade 3 Mineshaft
Handicap on the main track and the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap on turf — were
raised to $150,000 apiece (from $125,000 each last season). The Grade 3 Colonel
E.R. Bradley Handicap, which precedes the Fair Grounds Handicap in a three-race
graded stakes series for older turf horses, is now worth $125,000 (up from
$100,000).
The Thanksgiving Handicap for top sprinters will carry a six-figure purse for
the first time. The 87th running of Fair Grounds’ traditional opening day
feature will be worth $100,000 (up from $75,000).
Also given $25,000 bumps were the top two main-track events for fillies and
mares — the New Orleans Ladies, now at $150,000, and the Tiffany Lass Stakes,
now worth $100,000.
“Our emphasis that past three years has been on improving the overall quality
of racing at Fair Grounds and these increases are another part of that
strategy,” Fair Grounds President Tim Bryant said. “Owners and trainers should
know that if they bring their very best horses to New Orleans they will have
every chance to be rewarded.”
Bryant cited Larry Jones as the prime example of a horseman who reaped the
benefits of relocating to Fair Grounds. After several seasons elsewhere, Jones
filled 44 stalls in New Orleans last meet and led all trainers with nearly $1.5
million in earnings and six stakes wins (plus two lucrative runner-up finishes
in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby).
Two new stakes that have yet to be named were added to bolster options in
divisions that have become increasingly competitive in recent seasons. Both are
5 1/2-furlong turf sprints for three-year-olds, to be run in gender-restricted
divisions.
Six races from last season’s stakes schedule are not returning — five from
Claiming Crown XIII, which was hosted at Fair Grounds for the first time in
December, and the Kudzu Juvenile for Alabama-breds, which has been discontinued
by the Alabama Thoroughbred Breeders Racing Association.
The Fair Grounds stakes schedule is highlighted by 10 stakes that were graded
last season — five Grade 2 and five Grade 3. The Grade 2 events are the Risen
Star Stakes and Louisiana Derby for three-year-olds, the Fair Grounds Oaks for
three-year-old fillies, the New Orleans Handicap for older horses and the Mervin
H. Muniz Memorial Handicap for older turf horses.
The Grade 3 events are the Lecomte Stakes for three-year-olds, the Rachel
Alexandra Stakes for three-year-old fillies, the Mineshaft Handicap for older
horses, and both the Fair Grounds Handicap and the Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap
for older turf horses.
The North American Graded Stakes committee will meet in December to determine
gradings for 2013.
“We are hopeful the esteemed committee will agree that Fair Grounds deserves
a Grade 1 race,” said Eric Halstrom, vice president and general manger for
racing. “This year Believe You Can became the fifth Fair Grounds Oaks winner in
the race’s last eight runnings to also win the Kentucky Oaks. We’re proud to be
the winter home for some of the nation’s finest horses and believe it’s just a
matter of time until Fair Grounds is rewarded with a Grade 1 race.”
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