Fair Grounds Turf Racing to Return Dec. 26

Turf racing will return to Fair Grounds for the track's “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” card, to be held Monday, Dec. 26. Officials at Fair Grounds previously suspended turf racing Nov. 25 to allow the Stall-Wilson course to recover from damage to its inner portion.

With the portable rail set at 34 feet, fields will be limited to eight runners for the Blushing KD S.and Buddy Diliberto Memorial S. With the same parameters, turf racing will again be conducted Dec. 31 with the runnings of the Pago Hop S. and the Woodchopper S.

“Going forward from there, we will monitor the condition of the course and run a limited number of turf races as the course allows,” said executive director of racing Gary Palmisano, Jr. “If all goes well, as is expected, the racing office will look to add turf races to the new condition book, which starts Jan. 5.”