A Full Day at Fair Grounds

Fair Grounds in New Orleans in beautiful this time of year. (All photos by Geoff Worden)
Rare is the day that offers 11 stakes races, a book signing, a party within the festivities and sunny, breezy weather. Saturday, Jan. 12. at the Fair Grounds had a lot going on and a surprisingly large crowd early in the day.

Three stakes races kicked off the card with the total running distance of the trio not quite reaching 5 1/2 furlongs. Yes, these were Quarter Horses, and the exhilarating chaos that is this style of racing leads to a fun spectacle that I find nearly impossible to handicap. Even the first race with a mere seven entrants eluded me. The second was a free for-all with the Equibase chart summary for 10 of the 12 runners in the race including the word “bumped.” Those playing hunches, names and numbers would have fared well. The No. 12 horse won the second and third and were named Jet Black Zoomer and Zoomin for Bugs, respectively. A $2 12-12 Daily Double paid $216.60 as the horses were 30.50-1 and 6.50-1. The real fun in Quarter Horse racing is being right up on the rail, watching and feeling a dozen (or more) horses streaking past you at a full sprint.
If speed was the early word of the day for racing, plaid was the early word of the day for people. Gambit, a local publication focused on music, eating and drinking, presented “Ponies & Plaid,” a free event on site at the Fair Grounds. They hoped attendees would donate some plaid clothing to benefit Bloomin’ Deals Thrift Shop. To get into the party you needed to RSVP and wear plaid.
There was a fenced off section of the track, the same used for Starlight Racing, with two food trucks, Theo’s and La Cocinita, livening up the food scene.
Theo’s has three brick and mortar locations throughout the area and a loyal following. You can get the Theo’s pizza truck to appear for your gathering but it also makes stops around town. A regular stop is for youth soccer games at the Carrollton Fields, more popularly known as “the Fly,” near Audubon Park. Follow @TheosPizzaNOLA to see where they will be.

Here it is... The Rose-Merry-Nara, December's special #pizza #theospizza #meatballs #rosemary #marinara pic.twitter.com/hX7qFuAnof
— Theo's Pizza (@TheosPizzaNOLA) December 4, 2015
La Cocinita, which means “The Little Kitchen,” is mobile only and you can follow them @LaCocinita or go to their website. The calendar is kept up to date. There is another operation in Chicago, so be sure you’re finding the right information. You’ll want to follow them once you try them, and you won’t get bored because with four different “vessels,” six proteins and nine sauces you can experiment … a lot! The arepas are my favorite, but you can’t go wrong with “burri-tacos” or putting everything in a bowl.

Delicious arepas from @LaCocinita food truck! #nomnom #foodie pic.twitter.com/UerR2O1Sym
— Roaming Hunger (@RoamingHunger) December 10, 2015
Unfortunately, squeezed into a corner of the paddock area was Bob Fortus, co-author of “Ride To Win: An Inside Look at the Jockey’s Craft.” Co-authored with Gary West, this book gives insight to how jockeys prepare and plan how to win and navigate races. Fortus covered racing, among other things, for the Times-Picayune for decades. I look forward to reading the book.
Thoroughbred racing took over the rest of the day.

Robby Albarado won the first of these on the favorite Pacific Pink and finished with back-to-back wins atop a 17.30-1 Platinum Lady and a 16-1 first-timer starter named River Road. We also got to see a 21-1 Hot Zapper, ridden by Jose Riquelme, edge out favorite String King in Race 6. Race 9, my most anticipated race of the day, featured Heitai, Too Dim, Louisiana Flyboy, Top Cat Boogie and Skip the Pinot. These horses race against each other often and mostly trade successes. It shaped up to be a great duel but a relative newcomer crossed the finish line ahead of all of them, accompanied by, perhaps, the biggest roar of the day. Jockamo’s Song, ridden by Mitchell Murrill, emerged on top. The crowded winner’s circle explained the roar, Dare to Dream Stable must have rented a bus for this one.
The amount of people at the track early in the day surprised me. This was clearly a successful partnership for Fair Grounds, and I hope to see more events like this in the future. The plaid crowd seemed to be enjoying the day and the racing, even though, based solely on overheard conversations, the majority were were not racing enthusiasts. Once the event ended, around 4 p.m. local time, plaid-clothed people mostly headed for the exits even though the eighth of 13 races had not been run yet. The good news for racing in general is that they were there and might return on other days. Overall, the day was full of excitement and featured a lot of horses giving it their all. The program that day was so full it required a lot of attention, and even those on the inside used whatever spare time they could.

The next big day of racing is Jan. 16, which is Road to the Derby Kickoff Day with five stakes races, including two Grade 3s, but don’t wait for that, come out and enjoy the weather here in the Crescent City.