Horse Racing Returns to New Orleans

In this photo provided by Fair Grounds Race Course, Clouds on the Walk, with 16-year-old apprentice rider Joe Talamo aboard, races toward the finish as he passes a packed grandstand in the first race of the 2006-07 season Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006, at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. The race was the first at Fair Grounds since Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Fair Grounds Race Course) (AP)

Rink said she expected a packed house. "Without a doubt, because people from New Orleans love the track. It's part of us. They love it."

The day had a somber beginning. The announcer asked for a moment of silence _ and some teared up _ for the 1,464 Louisiana residents known to have died because of Katrina.

Then the festivities turned upbeat, as popular local jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins played the call to post before being joined by Fair Grounds' bugle player Les Colonello for a rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In."

With the opening of its 81-day thoroughbred meet, the Fair Grounds hopes to resume its place as a major winter racing center. It's a local sports tradition that dates to the late 19th century.

The Fair Grounds is the nation's third-oldest track _ only Saratoga and Pimlico have been racing longer.

A year ago, the track's owner, Churchill Downs Inc., still was trying to sort out storm damage. The roof largely was torn off the grandstand. Although Katrina floodwaters did not penetrate the main building, they heavily damaged the backstretch area of stables and living quarters and contaminated the dirt and turf tracks with salt.

There was a Fair Grounds meet, of sorts, last season. Instead of the planned 83-day meeting in New Orleans, 37 racing days were held far to the northwest at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City. The track's trademark 3-year-old races, the Louisiana Derby and the Fair Grounds Oaks, major preps for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, were canceled.

This year's meet will include a record $7.7 million in stakes purses and a record 10 graded stakes, track officials say.

The track's showcase race, the $600,000 Grade II Louisiana Derby, will be run March 10 on a card with five stakes with purses totaling $2.1 million. The track's other Grade II races _ the Fair Grounds Oaks, the Mervin Muniz Memorial Handicap, and the New Orleans Handicap _ also will be run that day.