Fair Grounds Cancels Four Mardi Gras Races

Posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007

Fair Grounds Race Course canceled the final four races of its Mardi Gras Day card Tuesday after a fire broke out in the men’s restroom on the east end of the second floor of the grandstand.

Upon arriving on the scene, New Orleans Fire Department officials requested that the six-story, 217,000-square-foot grandstand/clubhouse facility be evacuated, which led track officials to cancel the remainder of the card. A crowd of 2,657 was on hand, in addition to approximately 400 employees.

Fire department officials received the alarm at 3:05 p.m., or three minutes before post time of the sixth race, according to Fifth District Chief Jaime Lampard. Shortly after the sixth race, the building was evacuated.

There were no injuries, and the damage was contained to the restroom.

Fair Grounds has no live racing until Friday, when officials expect to race as scheduled.

The $75,000 Mardi Gras Stakes, the scheduled feature event of the afternoon, has been rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 26.

Share with other horse racing fans:
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Furl
  • YahooMyWeb
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

"Fair Grounds Cancels Four Mardi Gras Races" was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under Fair Grounds, Horse Racing Industry, Race Tracks News, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Previous Horse Racing News Entry:
Puerto Rican Jockey Trampled to Death

Next Horse Racing News Entry:
Louisiana Downs 2007 Racuing Season Sets $3.4 Million Purses

Horse Racing News »


Comments are closed.