LA Derby will lengthen, richen, compete with FL Derby
 

Major changes for Louisiana Derby
By Marty McGee

http://www.drf.com/news/article/106268.html

The Louisiana Derby will have a bigger purse, longer distance, and a date closer to the Kentucky Derby when the longtime Fair Grounds fixture is run in 2010.

Officials at Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Fair Grounds in New Orleans, issued a media release Tuesday announcing that the Louisiana Derby will be worth $750,000, up from $600,000, when the race is run March 27, 2010, which is two weeks later than what had been customary. The 2010 date is just five weeks before the 136th Kentucky Derby, to be run May 1 at Churchill Downs.

In addition, the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby has been lengthened by a sixteenth of a mile to 1 1/8 miles. The new date will put the Louisiana Derby in competition with other major Derby prep races. This year the Grade 1, $750,000 Florida Derby was run five weeks befoe the Kentucky Derby.

Interesting. I think the timing difference will help more than the purse.

Track Wars...???????

So dumb. They now get lesser fields having to compete with all the other final preps and make it impossible for horses to run in the New Orleans Handicap and Oaklawn Handicap. Moving it up one week to give 8 weeks until the Derby would have made so much more sense.

i like the distance increase

Moving it up one week would have put them six weeks out. This year it was run seven weeks prior to the Derby on March 14.

As for the NO Handicap, there is such a dearth of legitimate handicap races in the country at that time of year that they could run it whenever they want. FG had a field of 14 entered in the NO Cap last year. Oaklawn had 7 in the Oaklawn Handicap. They shouldn't be concerned with allowing horsemen to run at Oaklawn, a track that had a significantly stronger meet than FG last year.

I like the move, it adds some starch to their closing weeks and puts it in position to be a legitimate prep. This will keep people like Larry Jones, Todd Pletcher and all the rest from using the La Derby as a final Derby prep eight weeks off the race.

NT

This is a good move on the part of the Fair Grounds. Their race was becoming less popular with its odd distance/spacing at that time of year. Now they've taken a stand. Going the other way could have worked, but then you're still another round away from the Derby.

Smart move by Fair Grounds to return the Derby to nine furlongs, boost the purse, and move it five weeks out from the big day. I'm also pleased that the Risen Star purse was returned to $300,000 and moved to late February. Hopefully this will mean some of the good Derby prospects will race at FG instead of merely using the track for training (for past examples, see Curlin, Victory Gallop, Touch Gold).

Moving the Fair Grounds to late March is going to basically eliminate the Ashland as an Oaks prep. Not sure how it is going to affect the Fantasy, as with the exception of Rachel Alexandra, many of the FG Oaks winners have not run in the Fantasy on their way to the Oaks.

According to Bob Fortus with the Times Picayune, the FG Oaks is going to be run on the Friday before the La Derby, along with three other stakes for the ladies.

I would think there's also an excellent chance you see some twilight/night cards come back at FG considering CDI is all about night racing after the experiment at CD.

NT

I dunno... driving out of the Fair Grounds at 11pm... yikes!

We had nite/twilight racing for the last 3 Fridays of the 08/09 season, first time in 20 years I think they said.
Maybe we were the experiment...:p

I like the move to the last weekend of March and raising the purses. I think whoever said it hopefully will stop us from just becoming a training spot is right on target. We also are opening on Nov. 6 which is 3 weeks early....:tro:
We shall see how it works out come the Louisiana derby trail, but can't wait until Nov. 6.

Up to me means earlier in the calendar. I thought that was pretty clear by specifying 8 weeks.

OK but it's pretty safe to say tracks that feel like they run a "major" Derby prep just about never move it farther from the Derby.

NT

At 8 weeks out they would draw horses from everywhere who would then go split up for the final preps. At 5 weeks out they are just going to split the pool of horses even further off from the other major preps which means weaker pools for everyone. They'll never get G1 status from that. At 8 weeks out they could draw a great field each year with that purse increase.

Agree completely.

--Dunbar

In 2003, the purse was $750k and the race was run on March 9th, putting eight weeks before the Derby. The field included Funny Cide, Peace Rules, Kafwain, and Badge of Silver.

Yup, and we'll see who shows up next year with horses split between the Lane's End, Louisiana Derby, Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, and Arkansas Derby. And god forbid the Sunland Derby gets G3 status next year and draws some horses looking for graded earnings. This is a bad move.

i've walked out of there to a friends house on the other side of esplanade.

it was during jazzfest and i had the cover of a few thousand other music fans but still...shows it can be done.

Great strategic move...
 

As someone who annually attends Louisiana Derby, this is great strategic move in several ways.

1. Closer to Kentucky Derby date (plus)
2. Better prep distance at 9 furlongs (plus)
3. Builds series with Lecomte & Risen Star as La Derby preps (plus/plus)
4. Shifts date closer to rival race, Arkansas Derby (neutral/slightly negative)

Overall, it is big win for Fair Grounds and its patrons. Preview Day that features Risen Star Stakes should get stronger support. Also, this should allow FG to reposition Lecomte race and build that day's card just as they have done with Preview and FG "days" in recent years.

FG has turf racing and Oaklawn does not -- this is another competitive advantage for Fair Grounds. Also, New Orleans does not get freezing weather that cause horses to lose training days and races like Hot Springs.

Making my March 27 arrangements very soon! DTers, you need to come "pass a good time" on Gentilly Boulevard during 2009-2010 season.

I know it, because that is just what this sport needs, more cannabalism

I doubt many serious Derby prospects will continue to run in the Lane's End or Blue Grass because of Polytrack. Trainers out west may remain stubborn, but look for more of them to head east for a traditional dirt prep instead of the Santa Anita Derby.

The Wood Memorial is the race most likely to be affected because it will be a week after the Louisiana Derby. The Arkansas Derby will be two weeks after the La Derby, so a horse could conceivably make both races.

As long as the NYRA tracks and SoCal tracks can't keep things straight, why should the lesser tracks like FG seek permission from the racing world before making improvements to their stakes schedule.

Cause this isn't an improvement. This is declaring outright war on Oaklawn when those two tracks should be doing everything they can to compete with NY and California. A $750k Grade 2 eight weeks from the Kentucky Derby is a gold mine. It rules March and will attract the best horses. A $750k Grade 2 five weeks from the Kentucky Derby is just another Derby prep.

And let's not forget that the World Cup moves to synthetics next year so all the top dirt horses won't be a guarantee to go over there. That means between the Donn and the Met Mile there is a huge gap for races like the New Orleans Handicap and Oaklawn Handicap to gain G1 status. By having the two races compete with each other instead of feed into each other it assures that neither will get there anytime soon.

Considering that Oaklawn has boosted the purses of the Southwest and Rebel (which have conflicted in the past with the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby), and that has drawn horses directly from Fair Grounds, it can be said that Oaklawn declared war on FG well before this. FG and Oaklawn have always had a love/hate relationship. FG has a better group of horses stabled on the grounds than Oaklawn does, and Oaklawn has been dependent on these horses vanning up to Hot Springs to enhance its stakes races. It used to be that there was a mass exodus of horses from FG when Oaklawn opened; that has not happened over the last 10 years.

I'm not holding my breath for the Graded Stakes Committee to designate any FG stakes a Grade 1. The FG Oaks and Mervin Muniz (especially when it was worth $700k) were among the top races in each stakes division for several years, but neither was ever graded past the Grade 2 level.

Louisiana Derby was 9f from 1898 to 1987. Why they changed it to 8.5f I never understood. Used to be, it wasn't unusual for a horse to run in both the Mid-South Derbies before heading north for their final prep.

Since they are restoring race distances, why don't they put the New Orleans Hcp back to 10f? There isn't a major race for classic-type older horses in the eastern part of the country in the winter anymore, since Gulfstream deep-sixed the GP Hcp by reducing it to a mile.

Considering they just knocked the Suburban down to G2 for being at 10 furlongs I think you have your answer.