Fair Grounds Race Course

This article is about the thoroughbred racetrack. For the New Orleans neighborhood, see Fairgrounds, New Orleans.
Fair Grounds Race Course
LocationNew Orleans, Louisiana
Owned byChurchill Downs Inc.
Date opened1837
Course typeFlat/Thoroughbred
Notable racesLouisiana Derby (G2)
New Orleans Handicap (G2)
Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Mml Handicap (G2)
Fair Grounds Oaks (G2)
Official website
Fair Grounds Race Course grandstand

Fair Grounds Race Course, often known as New Orleans Fair Grounds, is a thoroughbred racetrack and racino in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is operated by Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company, LLC.

Louisiana Race Course Announcement The Times-Picayune 12 Mar 1837, Wed

The Carrollton Race Course was completed in 1837 and advertised in The Picayune, holding two races on March 14, 1837, under The Louisiana Jockey Club. In 1838 Bernard de Marigny, Julius C Branch and Henry Augustine Tayloe, organized races at the Louisiana or Carrollton Race Course, laid out on Gentilly Road, making it the second oldest site of horseracing in America still in operation, after Freehold Raceway and before the Saratoga Race Course. It began on April 10 and lasted for five days.[1] In 1852 it was renamed the Union Race Course. In 2009, the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America. Of the top Fifteen, New Orleans Fair Grounds was ranked #12, behind Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, Louisiana, which was ranked #6.

  1. ^ Times Picayune, March 14, 1839, Page 1