Letter to the Editor: Pan Zareta & Black Gold

No matter what age we live in, every chapter of life is a bittersweet, hard-fought existence counting successes and failures and in the end our mortal or animal flesh returns to the soil for the next generation to continue the struggle. In the infield of the Fair Grounds, near the finish line, stand two markers [...]

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Letter to the Editor: Happy 90th Birthday to JoAn Stewart

Throughout your life, there are people who make it better. In 1964, when I moved to New Orleans to live with my soon-to-be adoptive mother, Marie Krantz, the caretakers of the Old Jefferson Downs were Jimmy and JoAn Stewart. The old Jefferson Downs was the converted Magnolia Park Harness track in Metairie (now Lafreniere Park). [...]

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The `Good' Larry Melancon

Back in the days when I was in high school, I would work in the racing office at Jefferson Downs in the mornings as an entry clerk. This was before the days of computerized databases and electronically keyed-in entries. Entry blanks were bound by red glue as thick pads and filled out in pencil. Each [...]

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