Live racing returns to Fair Grounds on Nov. 20 as the New Orleans racetrack hosts its 154^th season. The 2025-26 meet will encompass 70 race days through March 22 and will offer racing fans and handicappers some of the best wagering to be found during the winter season. For those planning to visit, the track will unveil a renovated paddock for the 2025-26 meet as well as a new lounge overlooking the paddock and several other upgraded amenities including in the winner’s circle.

Fair Grounds’ 70-raceday meet will be highlighted by 56 stakes worth a total of $8.65 million headlined by some of the most important races on the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. The track’s stakes program for next year's 3-year-olds is sure to build a lot of interest in the meet. It will begin with the $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes on Dec. 20 and will continue with the Grade 3, $250,000 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 17, the Grade 2, $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 14, and the Grade 2, $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby going 1 3/16 miles on March 21.

Above and beyond the stakes races, the Fair Grounds season will offer high-quality day-in and day-out racing with a loaded jock’s room filled with riders from around the country and plenty of good horses representing prominent trainers.

Fair Grounds Trainer Tips

Joe Sharp (Eclipse Sportswire)

The leading trainer at last season’s 2024-25 Fair Grounds meet was Joe Sharp who won the training title with 40 wins from 151 starters for a strong 26% season after winning 18 races at Fair Grounds the season before. The other trainer that comes off a tremendous season at Fair Grounds is Brad Cox, who won 31 races from 102 starters for 30%. Both Sharp and Cox will be back again this season and both again should be on top of the standings.

Fair Grounds’ 2023-24 leading trainer was Shane Wilson, who did it with pure volume two years ago when he won 50 races from 350 starters for 15%. Wilson was the third-leading trainer in 2024-25 but it was a comparatively very disappointing season for him with just 27 winners from 266 starters for only 10% wins – the lowest win percentage of any trainer that finished in the top 30 at the meet. You’ll be seeing Wilson’s name a lot in daily entries. The rest of the top five trainers last season was made up of fourth-place Bret Calhoun (25 wins for 16% last year after winning 24 races for 16% two years ago), and Steve Asmussen (22 wins for 19% last season), and Cherie DeVaux (22 wins for 28%), who tied for fifth.

Based on results from last season, some of the best trainers to bet on at Fair Grounds include New Orleans native Tom Amoss (19 wins, 16% last season), Mike Maker (15 wins, 23%), Larry Rivelli (9 wins, 26%), Joseph Felks (7 wins, 44%), and Norm Casse (5 wins, 24%).

Top Fair Grounds Jockeys

Jose Ortiz interviewed by Joe Kristufek. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Jockey Jose Ortiz moved his winter tack to Fair Grounds for the first time last season and dominated the New Orleans jockey leaderboard, tallying 97 wins from 340 mounts for a 29% win percentage. Ortiz garnered 42 victories more than the second-place rider in the standings, who was Jareth Loveberry with 55 wins (14%). You can count on another outstanding meet for Jose Ortiz and Loveberry.

Two years ago, the 2023-24 Fair Grounds jockey title was won narrowly by Jose Guerrero with 52 wins (16%) over Loveberry who had 51 wins (14%). Guerrero’s win output was reduced to 21 wins last season with only a 10% win percentage. Picking up the slack at last year’s meet were third-leading rider Ben Curtis (49 wins, 18%), and fourth-leading rider Mitchell Murrill (41 wins, 12%). Curtis missed a few days after a spill at Aqueduct on Nov. 8, but his agent told Fair Grounds’ press office that the Irish jockey would be ready to return on opening day.

Speaking of comebacks, Brian Hernandez Jr. is back in the saddle after recovering from injuries he received in a spill at Churchill Downs back on Sept. 21. He resumed riding at Churchill in November and is on target for a return to Fair Grounds after racking up 38 wins from 184 mounts (21%) at last year’s meet. Hernandez had another 41 wins and a 17% win percentage at Fair Grounds two seasons ago and is a dependable winner at the meet.

Other jockeys vying for spots in the top 10 on the Fair Grounds leaderboard will be Marcelino Pedroza Jr. (38 wins, 12% last season), Edgar Morales (38 wins, 16%), Axel Concepcion (32 wins, 12%), Florent Geroux (30 wins, 20%), and Jaime Torres (30 wins, 11%). A wild card in the standings will be Paco Lopez, who currently leads North American jockeys in wins for 2025 but is suspended in many jurisdictions for riding crop violations. Lopez is named to ride six horses on the opening card at Fair Grounds.

Fair Grounds Main Track Trends

Click image to purchase shirt.

The Fair Grounds main track generally gives all types of horses a fair chance to win, but horses from the three inside posts had an advantage in both sprints and routes last season. Sprints played more in favor of early speed, while routes gave horses of all running styles good chances. Let’s take a look inside the trends and statistics for hints at what running styles and post positions give you the best chance to win at Fair Grounds.

Most of the dirt sprints at Fair Grounds are run at the distance of six furlongs. At the most recent 2024-25 Fair Grounds meet, the most successful running style at six furlongs and in all dirt sprints was early speed. Horses racing on or close to the pace within a length of the lead won 148 of the 299 dirt sprints at the meet (49%). Inside speed, in particular, was lethal last year with speed horses from the three inside post positions alone winning 80 of 299 races, good for a 27% win rate. Stalkers coming from one to four lengths off the pace won 109 times (37%), and closers from four or more lengths off the pace won 41 times to account for wins in 14% of the dirt sprints. These races had an average field size of 7.72 runners per race, and more than half of the winners (159) broke from the three inside gates. Last year’s stats were consistent with the final figures from the previous meet in 2023-24.

In dirt routes run at the 2024-25 Fair Grounds meet, the track preference was slightly in favor of speed horses that won 38% of the 213 dirt routes, but it was not a significant advantage over stalkers, who won 34% of the dirt routes. Closers did okay too with wins in 28% of the dirt routes. Just like in sprints, these percentages were consistent with the way the track played two years ago at the 2023-24 meet.

In Fair Grounds route races run between one mile and 1 1/16-miles, post position can be a key issue due to the short run to the first turn. Horses that break from wide posts in these races can suffer wide, ground-losing trips, giving speed horses and pressers who break from the inside a tactical advantage. Post positions played a role as a handicapping factor in Fair Grounds dirt routes last season. Horses from the inside posts 1-3 won 54% of the dirt routes, as opposed to horses from the middle posts 4-6 that won 35% of the races. The average field size in dirt routes was 7.56 horses per race so outside posts did not account for a lot of the starters; however, horses from outside posts did still manage to win 24 races for a respectable 11% of the total.

Fair Grounds Turf Tips

Turf runners vie for position. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Fair Grounds is known for carding plenty of turf races but then having a lot of those races get taken off the turf due to weather/course conditions. “Off-the-turf” is something Fair Grounds handicappers must deal with regularly. That said, the Fair Grounds turf course held up much better in 2024-25 than it did two years ago when there were only 47 turf routes run at Fair Grounds for the entire meet.

In Fair Grounds turf routes, late runners tend to do the best. Last season, closers won 42 of the 105 races to account for 40% of the wins. Stalkers also did very well last season with wins in 40 of the 105 turf routes (38%). Horses on or close to the lead have a tough time going all the way in the long Fair Grounds stretch run and that group of horses last year won just 23 of the 105 turf routes (22%).

In 64 turf sprints run last season, speed horses had a slight advantage and horses from the three inside post positions were at a slight disadvantage. For a larger sample size, we can look at the entire decade of the 2020s so far. There have been a total of 264 turf sprints run at Fair Grounds in that timeframe and the races overall were mostly fair in terms of post positions. Speed did well last year but it has been stalkers that have done the best in the 2020s to the tune of 107 wins in the 264 races to account for 40.5 percent. Closers definitely do the worst in the turf sprints with just 59 wins in the 264 turf sprints (22%) the last five years.

Now is the time to get ready for the 2025-26 Fair Grounds race meet. Enjoy the season and best of luck!