Six Scholarships to be Awarded at Louisiana Champions Day
Registration On Site at the Fair Grounds on December 9
(NEW ORLEANS, La.) – The Fair Grounds Racecourse & Slots will host Louisiana Champions Day Saturday, December 9, with a post time of 12:45 p.m., CT. Plenty of activities are planned for the date that is one of the biggest days of championship racing for Louisiana breds. Nine races will be contested including six stakes.
Louisiana Champions Day will be held on Dec. 9. With the races run in various divisions over a variety of distances on both dirt and turf, the program features nine stakes restricted to Louisiana breds. Each Louisiana Champions Day stake is worth $100,000 with the exception of the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic, the $50,000 Louisiana Champions Day Starter, and $50,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Starter.
The stakes are as follows:
Champions Day Starter: $50,000 Guaranteed
Champions Day Ladies Starter: $50,000 Guaranteed
Champions Day Distaff: $100,000 Guaranteed – Grade BT
Champions Day Juvenile: $100,000 Guaranteed – Grade BT
Champions Day Sprint: $100,000 Guaranteed – Grade BT
Champions Day Ladies Sprint: $100,000 Guaranteed – Grade BT
Champions Day Lassie: $100,000 Guaranteed – Grade BT
Champions Day Classic: $150,000 Guaranteed – Grade BT
Champions Day Turf: $100,000 Guaranteed – Grade BT
In addition, the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association (LTBA) will award four scholarships and The Fair Grounds will award two scholarships, each valued at $1,000, to college students for a total of $6,000.
“It’s the biggest day of Louisiana bred Championship racing with some of the most exciting thoroughbred racing of the year,” said Roger Heitzmann, secretary/treasurer for the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association. “These championship races often help decide our Horse of the Year standings by our members. The entries are top Louisiana bred racehorses and there is sure to be some thrilling finishes.”
Requirements for the scholarship are as follows:
Must be a college student enrolled full-time in an Accredited College, University or Community College for Spring 2024
Scholarships will be awarded by random draw.
Must be in good standing with the college or university.
Must be present to win at the Winner’s Circle when the announcement is made.
Must have college ID and government-issued ID.
Must have University ID number or Social Security number.
For Louisiana Champions Day:
Registration: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the designated booth
Races begin: 12:00 p.m.
Drawing Time: The scholarships will be awarded after the fifth race. The scholarship will be deposited directly into the student’s account at the college or university. The student is asked to know the name and address of the college that they are attending.
Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association manages the best incentive program for breeding thoroughbreds in the United States. Since the organization formed, this has led to increased purses, better quality horses, and increased interest in racing and breeding horses. The thoroughbred racing and breeding industry generates over $1 billion and employs over 60,000 people in the state of Louisiana.
For more information about Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association visit louisianabred.com or call (504) 947-4676.
Please join us as our guest, Friday, December 8th from 7-10 pm. at the Jefferson Orleans South, as we get the Louisiana Champions Day festivities started with an evening of dining and dancing. Live music will be provided by Rick Mocklin and the Southern Voice Band.
Saturday, December 9th, you won’t want to miss the Louisiana Champions Day races at Fair Grounds. This event has become the highlight of Louisiana Bred racing as the best runners in the state compete for nearly $1 million in purse money.
Friday, December 8th – Louisiana Champions Day Gala
Saturday, December 9th – Louisiana Champions Day Races
Folsom, Louisiana — Faversham, the only full brother to two-time Horse of the Year and 2023 Racing Hall of Fame inductee California Chrome — sire of 2021 Louisiana Horse of the Year Cilla, is relocating to Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana for the 2024 breeding season.
Faversham’s introductory fee for Louisiana is $3,000 payable when foal stands and nurses or $2,000 payable by September 1, 2024; both options offer a live foal guarantee. The multiple winner and promising young sire, now 8, is nominated to Breeders’ Cup.
By two-time leading California sire Lucky Pulpit out of two-time California Broodmare of the Year Love the Chase, a winning daughter of 12-time leading Maryland sire Not For Love, Faversham was a dual-surface winner in California and Kentucky for owners Perry and Denise Martin. A California-bred who was named after respected Thoroughbred pedigree analyst Rommy Faversham, he stood at Daehling Ranch in his home state from mid-2020 through 2023, and will be represented by his first full crop of 2-year-olds in 2024.
Faversham shares an identical pedigree with racing icon California Chrome, his older sibling who earned four Eclipse Awards and $14,752,650 from 2013 through 2017. California Chrome won the 2014 Kentucky Derby (G1), the 2016 Dubai World Cup (G1) and five additional Grade 1 races on dirt and turf before he retired to stud in Kentucky with extraordinary credentials as North America’s highest-earning runner in history and as Horse of the Year for 2014 and 2016. California Chrome stood three seasons domestically and shuttled twice to Chile before he was sold and exported to Japan in 2019.
The top performer to date from California Chrome’s three U.S.-sired foal crops is the Grade 1-placed Louisiana-bred Cilla, a Grade 2 winner out of 2020 Louisiana Broodmare of the Year Sittin At the Bar. Cilla won three stakes races and two championship titles in her home state and earned $509,000 overall.
“Faversham is a tailor-made fit for Louisiana,” said Perry Martin, who also bred and campaigned California Chrome in partnership. “I believe breeders in this state will appreciate his championship pedigree, his very reasonable stud fee and his ability to win on two different racing surfaces, a skill that should equip his Louisiana-bred foals to compete throughout the state’s racing circuit in the future.”
Faversham will be available for inspection during Clear Creek Stud’s 2024 Stallion Roster Presentation on December 16, 2023. He joins a quality line-up that is led by Star Guitar, a four-time leading sire of Louisiana-bred runners.
The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association (LTBA) office will be closing at noon Wednesday, November 22, and will be closed all day Thursday, November 23, for Thanksgiving. The office will resume regular hours, Friday, November 24.
The LTBA wishes all members and readers a blessed Thanksgiving.
Clearly A Test became Clearly Now’s first listed stakes winner when she captured the Donovan L. Ferguson Memorial Stakes race on the opening day card at Fair Grounds on Friday. Clearly A Test hit the starting gate when they opened but quickly secured a mid pack position. Coming around the turn she swung to the outside and began to pick up horses down the long Fair Grounds stretch to win the five and one half furlong race by and length and a half. The Ferguson Memorial is a prep race for Louisiana Champions Day on December 9th. Clearly A Test is a true homebred for the Brittlyn Stable of Evelyn Benoit, being by the multiple Graded Stakes winner Clearly Now, who was raced in the latter part of his career for Brittlyn. Clearly A Test is out of the Brittlyn daughter of Louisiana’s all time leading racer in Star Guitar, Testing One Two. Testing One Two was a multiple stakes winner for Brittlyn, winning six stakes races. Trained by Shane Wilson, Clearly A Test had earned $63,900 in her career which began at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. The Ferguson was Clearly A Test’s maiden win also.
Clearly Now and all of the Clear Creek Stallions will be on display at our Annual Stallion Show on December 16th. Come join us for some food, fun and see some great stallions. Clear Creek Stud can be contacted at 985-796-5563 or visit our web site at www.clearcreekstud.com.
Magnum with Corey Lanerie aboard wins the 2nd running of the Jacob V. Morreale Stakes at Fair Grounds. Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
Set-Hut’s Mangum Battles Back Who Took the Money in the Morreale
New Orleans, La (Nov. 18, 2023) – Three thrilling Louisiana-bred stakes rounded out opening weekend at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, but the most heroic performance came from Set-Hut’s Mangum. Winner of the $75,000 Jacob V. Morreale Memorial, the 3-year-old had his hooves full late as the 6-time stakes-winner Who Took the Money came flying from behind. The two went eyeball-to-eyeball in the final stages before Mangum put his older foe away, surging through the wire to win by a neck.
Getting the call from trainer Jeff Delhomme, veteran pilot Corey Lanerie guided Mangum the 1 mile 70 yards over the fast main track in 1:43.60. With four-wins in a row, the gelded son of Mo Tom is now 11:6-1-3 with $255,360 in the coffers. The public priced him at 4.50-1.
El Dinero Rallies to Win Joseph R. Peluso Memorial. Hodges photo
Overcoming Early Trouble, El Dinero Snags Peluso Purse with Late Rally
It would take a rail rally for the ages for Tav Enterprises’ El Dinero to win the $75,000 Joseph R. Peluso Memorial on Saturday at Fair Grounds. As the juveniles fought for early position, the son of El Deal took the worst of several bumps and struggled for footing. Soon trailing the field of nine males, in the far turn of the 5 1/2-furlong sprint the colt began to find his stride. By the 1/8th pole, jockey James Graham had El Dinero flying up the rail and with half the field still to pass, the Patrick Devereux trainee kept finding to be the first to cross the finish line. One length was the margin of defeat for Pop’s Peppysteper, who finished full of run himself. The final time of El Dinero’s phenomenal comeback clocked in at 1:05.56 and he rewarded his faithful at 2.70-1.
El Dinero’s two career wins have both been stakes and he has never finished out of the money, tallying a 5:2-1-2 record with $118,990 in earnings. Devereux reported after the race that the end goal is the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile on December 9 at Fair Grounds.
Autumns Strong Man with Angel Suarez aboard wins the 2nd running of the Larry D. Robideaux Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds. Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
Autumns Strong Man Flexes at a Price to win the Robideaux
As the front runners began to tire, Autumns Strong Man began to flex the best run of his 21-race career to steal the $75,000 Larry D. Robideaux Memorial at odds of 32-1. Owner and trainer Gary Husak called upon jockey Angel Suarez to guide the gelded son of Strong Mandate, and he couldn’t have asked for a better trip. After saving ground, Suarez waited until the 1/8th pole to tip Autumns Strong Man out into the clear, and the 4-year-old responded in kind by kicking home with just enough to hold off the late-flying Langs Day by a diminishing head.
Making his third stakes attempt count, Autumns Strong Man’s bank bulged to $164,275. The new face on the Louisiana-bred stakes sprinting scene sports a 21: 4-3-2 career record.
Racing at Fair Grounds resumes on Thursday, Nov. 23. With ten races slated kicking off at noon central, the centerpiece 99th running of the $200,000 Thanksgiving Classic will go as Race 9.
Free Like A Girl becomes the latest Louisiana Bred Millionaire with her win in the Doris Hebert Memorial Stakes. Hodges Photo
“Back in the Big Easy to Become a Millionaire,” Free Like a Girl Bags the Hebert
New Orleans, La (Nov. 17, 2023) – Opening day of the 152nd racing season at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots will forever be remembered as the day Free Like a Girl surpassed $1 million in career earnings. Overcoming a claustrophobic trip, the Louisiana Champion filly as both a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old spurted away from the field of 11 to win the $75,000 Doris Hebert Memorial by 3/4 length over a persistent Olivia G.
Gerald Bruno, Jr., Chasey Pomier, and Jerry Caroom’s daughter of El Deal covered the 6 furlongs in 1:12.12 across a main track rated “good.” Even money was the reward for her backers in the win pool
Trained by Chasey Pomier, Free Like a Girl was piloted by Vicente Del Cid. Sticking her nose across the milestone threshold, the 4-year-old out the Flashy Bull mare Flashy Prize now boasts $1,006,578 in lifetime earnings and a career record of 31: 14-8-4. Free Like a Girl was bred by Kim Renee Stover & Lisa Osborne.
Vale Male is victorious in the John Valene Memorial Stakes. Hodges photo
Wire to Wire Was the Way for Vale Male in the Valene Memorial
Though never having led the pack at any opening call in her first 13 races, D & S Stables’ Vale Male did just that and more to win the $75,000 John Valene Memorial wire-to-wire on Friday. Breaking sharply outside of seven older fillies and mares, the daughter of Bodemeister out of the Kantharos dam Wildwood Kantharos dropped down to occupy the vacancy and never looked back through the 1 mile 70 yards. Beating A G’s Charlotte by 3/4 lengths, the 4-year-old stopped the clock at 1:45.20 to pay 9.50 – 1.
Trained by James “Sweets” Hodges, Vale Male received the heads-up services of jockey James Graham, who with this victory sits nine back from career win 3,000. Bred by J. Adcock & Hume Wornall, Vale Male now tallies a career record of 14: 5-3-2 adding up to $172,440 in lifetime earnings.
Jockey J.A. Guerrero pilots Clearly A Test to victory in the 2nd running of the Donovan L. Ferguson Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds. Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges, Jr.
Home From Saratoga, Louisiana’s Own Clearly a Test Breaks Maiden in the Ferguson Stakes
Louisiana-bred through and through, Brittlyn Stables’ homebred Clearly a Test returned home from her summer racing at Saratoga to break her maiden in the $75,000 Donovan L. Ferguson Memorial. Drawn inside against a field of 14 juvenile fillies, the daughter of Clearly Now hit the gate and had to fight her way from near the back in the 5 1/2-furlong dirt sprint under jockey Jose Guerrero. Advancing along the rail, it wasn’t until the far turn that she boldly maneuvered to the outside, but once she did her talented kick moved her to the front of the 2021 class. Sealing the deal in 1:06.95, Clearly a Test beat out Tommie G by 1 1/2 lengths, paying 1.60 as the post-time favorite.
Trained by Shane Wilson, the daughter of Clearly Now out of the Star Guitar dam Testing One Two is now 4:1-0-0 with $63,900 in earnings.
Louisiana Champions Preview Weekend features six stakes
The La-bred deck is stacked in favor of a big weekend for Dallas Stewart
Cross-entered Free Like A Girl’s connection must decide sprint or route
Brittlyn Stables’ familiar faces enter multiple stakes but will walk over from a new barn
New Orleans, La (Nov. 16, 2023) – The table is set for Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots’ 152nd season, and there’s an extra helping of Louisiana-bred stakes to feast upon one week ahead of the 99th running of Thanksgiving Classic. Three of the nine races carded for opening day on Friday, Nov. 17, are statebred stakes for females: The Doris Hebert, The John Valene, and The Donovan L. Ferguson. With 10 races slated for Saturday, the males will take centerstage in the three feature stakes: The Joseph R. Peluso, The Jacob V. Morreale, and the Larry D. Robideaux. Run in memory of departed members of Fair Grounds racing community, each carries a $75,000 purse and serve as the perfect springboard for Louisiana Champions Day on Dec 9. First post on both Friday and Saturday is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. (all times Central).
Friday’s spotlight will be on Louisiana-bred fillies and mares
Cross-entered in the Doris Hebert Memorial 6-furlong sprint (Race 6) and the 1 mile and 70 yards John Valene Memorial (Race 8), Gerald Bruno Jr., Chasey Pomier, and Jerry Caroom’s Free Like a Girl will look to return to form on Friday. Made the morning line favorite in both, 9-5 in the Hebert and 2-1 in the Valene, the sensational filly trained by Chasey Pomier is winless since taking the Distaff and Louisiana Legends Mademoiselle Sprint in early summer, both at Evangeline Downs. Vicente Del-Cid gets the call to help reverse the three-race slide, which will be his first race aboard the 13-time winner who would surpass $1 million in earnings if she were able to be victorious in whichever stakes her connections settle on.
It would be fitting if Sabra Tuff was able to seize the day in the John Valene. Owned by Valene Farms’ Murray Valene, Sabra Tuff’s first race against fellow statebreds is in a stakes named for Murray’s father, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 100. The daughter of Cross Traffic beat her odds finishing fourth in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and more recently finished fourth to Randomized in the Alabama (G1). The 3-year-old’s stablemate Accommodate Eva runs in Race 9, the Donovan L. Ferguson, a 5 1/2 furlong sprint for juvenile fillies, and she has followed a similarly ambitious path, entering fresh off a 10th-place finish in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
On Saturday, Nov 19 the focus shifts to Louisiana-bred colts and geldings
A field of nine La-bred juvenile males will line up in the starting gates for the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial Stakes, a 5 1/2 furlong sprint across the main track. In a wide-open affair of well-bred but lightly-raced juveniles, the DS Young Futurity winner, Tav Enterprises’ El Dinero, was tabbed as the morning line favorite at 7-2. The son of El Deal traveled wide when finishing third last out in the Louisiana Legacy at Delta Downs in October. Scheduled as Race 5, the Ferguson is the first leg of the 15% takeout $1 Pick 6. Post time is 2:45 p.m.
The confidence of Brittlyn Stable’s Behemah Star might be on the rise as soon as he scans the paddock ahead of the Jacob V. Morreale to find Touchuponastar, his brother by another mother, is not there. That foe has kept him out of the winner’s circle four times in the past year. In the field of nine, there are two others who have proven difficult for the 5-year-old, as Who Took the Money and Mangum both enter to take on Brittlyn Stables’ beloved son of Star Guitar. With two third-place finishes since Brittlyn Stables moved Behemah and the rest of their stars into the care of Shane Wilson, the 4-time winner will reunite with last year’s leading rider Rey Gutierrez, who triumphantly piloted Behemah in the 2022 Star Guitar Stakes. Written at 1 mile 70 yards across the main track, a distance at which Behemah has never finished out of the money, the Morreale will go as Race 7. Post time is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.
The Larry D. Robideaux Memorial promises to be a thriller as 13 statebred, male 3-years-old and up will rip through 6 dirt furlongs trying to assert their supremacy atop the division ahead of Louisiana Champions Day. In last year’s edition the pace boiled over setting up for a late rail run from Brian’s Iron Mike, and though new faces join the cast of familiar characters, the second running of the Robideaux could unfold in a similar fashion.
Cross-entered in the Morreale, Set-Hut’s Mangum gets the lukewarm 4-1 nod by morning line oddsmaker Mike Diliberto. Having carried low weight of 111 pounds in two of his last three stakes victories, if the Jeff Delhomme trainee were to run in the Robideaux, he would travel with 122 pounds and Treylon Albert on his back.
Before most horse racing jurisdictions shut down across the country and threw the economic balance of the sport into question, the industry’s biggest problem was its need to reduce racing and training fatalities. Veterinarians and scientists are still learning about the causes of catastrophic injuries and, so far, it seems there may be a number of risk factors at play in any given injury.
One theory that many people have offered over the years is that the practice of allowing horses to race at two years old is either the direct cause of early breakdowns or predisposes horses to serious injury later. Many such hypotheses equate training and racing a 2-year-old with putting an elementary school-aged child into the Olympics. For more than two decades, the sport has heard calls to put an end to 2-year-old racing. Those calls have been renewed recently, as some fans have seen the racing shutdown as a good time to reevaluate and modify its structure and improve equine welfare.
Louisiana-based stallion Hard Aces was represented by his first stakes winner last week when Spinning Aces captured the Nov. 10 Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs.
Racing in third early, Spinning Aces advanced to take command and was determined through the stretch, defeating Awesome Ruta by a neck. He raced seven furlongs over a sloppy track under Joel Dominguez in 1:27.86, posting an 82 Equibase Speed Figure. He paid $19.80 to win in taking the open, $100,000 stakes event.
Spinning Aces, a 2-year-old gelding bred by Gerald Averett Jr. in Louisiana out of the Afternoon Deelites mare Just Alex, is 2-0-1 in three starts with earnings of $89,540 for owner Lynne Boutte and trainer Allen Landry.
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