Evangeline Downs live racing calendar
Live racing at Evangeline Downs is a night affair. The 2026 thoroughbred season, the 60th season of racing in Acadiana, opened on Friday, April 3, with 73 nights scheduled and two stakes on many cards. First post was 5:30 p.m. Central. After opening weekend the program ran Wednesday through Saturday until May 2, then Thursday through Saturday.
| Meet | 2026 dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Thoroughbred | April 3 to September 7 | 73 nights, 5:30 p.m. first post |
| Quarter horse | October 1 to December 19 | Over $1 million in stakes |
| Simulcast | Year-round | Races from other tracks |
The thoroughbred season ended over Labor Day weekend with Friday, Saturday and Monday cards, after a special Monday program on August 31 that preceded the Louisiana Breeders Sale on the grounds the next day. The fall quarter horse meet then opened on October 1 with the $20,000 EVD Dash on its first Saturday, October 3.
Stakes worth planning a trip around
Thoroughbred highlights in 2026 included the $100,000 Evangeline Mile on April 4, the $60,000 EVD Classic on Kentucky Derby day, and Louisiana Legends Night on June 6, when six stakes for Louisiana-breds carried $100,000 guaranteed purses each. The turf saw the $60,000 John Henry Stakes on July 4, named for the gelding who won here as a two-year-old.
The quarter horse meet builds toward a closing card on Saturday, December 19, with twelve stakes. The $200,000-added LQHBA Million Futurity for Louisiana-bred two-year-olds heads it, alongside the $100,000-added EVD Futurity and four more races for Louisiana-breds at $100,000 guaranteed. Trials run on Friday and Saturday nights in late November.
The track added a jackpot pick six for 2026 called the Bayou Bet 6, with a 15 percent takeout and a 20-cent minimum. A single winning ticket takes the whole jackpot; when several tickets hit, 90 percent of the pool is paid and 10 percent carries over. The pari-mutuel betting guide explains how carryover pools build.
Inside the Evangeline Downs casino
The Evangeline Downs casino covers more than 39,000 square feet with over 1,000 slot and video poker machines. Because Louisiana keeps its racetrack casinos to machines, there are no live table games. A FanDuel Sportsbook opened recently, joining the simulcast area where bettors follow races from other tracks between the evening’s live races.
State figures show the floor’s place among the four tracks. In July 2026 the casino recorded 44,801 admissions and $6,824,824 in adjusted gross revenue, second only to Delta Downs near Lake Charles and up 7.9 percent on July 2025. Visitors who play the machines can decide on a spending limit before they start.
Food, rooms and getting to Opelousas
Two restaurants on the property serve Cajun and Creole dishes, and track-side private club suites can be booked for groups on race nights. The property also includes a 117-room hotel. The grounds cover more than 750 acres, with a one-mile main track, a 7/8-mile turf course and close to 1,000 stalls on the backstretch.
The track is off Interstate 49 east of Opelousas, about 20 minutes north of Lafayette and about an hour by road from Baton Rouge. Parking is on site. For a statewide comparison, the Louisiana racinos guide covers all four tracks, and Louisiana Downs in Bossier City is the option to the north.
From Carencro to St. Landry Parish
The original Evangeline Downs opened on April 28, 1966, beside U.S. 167 at Carencro, just north of Lafayette. It went bankrupt and closed in October 1986, then reopened in April 1987 after a savings association bought it at auction. Video poker arrived in 1992, but Lafayette Parish voters banned the machines in a 1996 election.
St. Landry Parish voters had rejected a similar ban, so the owners planned a move north. Peninsula Gaming bought the track in two halves in 2002, opened the Opelousas casino in December 2003 and moved racing there in 2005. Boyd Gaming acquired Peninsula in November 2012, and the empty Carencro site became an Amazon distribution center in 2020.
Why the track has a following
Horseplayers have long rated Evangeline Downs well. In 2009 the Horseplayers Association of North America ranked it sixth among 65 thoroughbred tracks in North America, ahead of the New Orleans Fair Grounds. Its rider colony has a reputation, too, with Calvin Borel and Kent Desormeaux among the Kentucky Derby winners who started out at the old Carencro track.
Local riders still dominate the standings. Tim Thornton led the 2025 thoroughbred jockey table with 96 winners and returned to defend the title in 2026. For readers new to the format, what is a racino explains how track casinos like this one fund the purses that keep a full night racing schedule alive.