Louisiana Derby Preview Day at Fair Grounds Race Course

2008 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park

The 2008 Breeders' Cup, thoroughbred racing's most prestigious event, consisting of 14 Breeders' Cup races and $25.5 million in purses, will be held on October 24-25, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

But before that, Belmont Stakes winner Da'Tara is going to race in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course while Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown will be racing in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

Posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008

Nominations close this Saturday for the six stakes, with purses totaling $1 million, that make up Louisiana Derby Preview Day on February 9 at Fair Grounds Race Course.

Headlining Preview Day is the $300,000 Risen Star Stakes (gr. III) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16-miles, the final major local prep for the $600,000 Louisiana Derby (gr. II) on March 8 that annually attracts sophomores with 2008 Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown aspirations.

Also on Preview Day is the Risen Star’s feminine equivalent â€“ the $200,000 Silverbulletday Stakes (gr. III) for 3-year-old fillies â€“ and it is this race that has been creating most of the buzz in recent days as the final prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II) on March 8.

At the present time, both Eclipse Award-winning juvenile filly champion Indian Blessing and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Proud Spell, owned by former Kentucky Governor Brereton Jones, are being pointed for the Silverbulletday, and appear increasingly likely to face each other in a rematch of the top two finishers in the Juvenile Fillies.

Also prominent on the showcased February 9 program is the $150,000 Mineshaft Handicap (gr. III) over Fair Grounds’ main track at 1 1/16 miles, final prep for the New Orleans Handicap (gr. II) at a 1 1/8 miles on the second Saturday in March, as well as the $150,000 Fair Grounds Handicap (gr. III) at about nine furlongs over the Stall-Wilson turf course as the preview for the Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap (gr. II) at that same distance four weeks later.

Completing February 9’s stakes slate is the $100,000 Pan Zareta Stakes for older sprinting fillies and mares at six furlongs, and the $100,000 Colonel Power Stakes for older grass sprinters at about 5 1/2 furlongs over the Stall-Wilson turf course.

www.fairgroundsracecourse.com

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"Louisiana Derby Preview Day at Fair Grounds Race Course" was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 11:51 pm 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. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.