The 2026-27 meet at Fair Grounds Race Course
The 155th season at Fair Grounds Race Course opens on Thursday, November 19, 2026, and runs 70 days to March 21, 2027, with two more days possible. Regular first post is 12:55 p.m. Central. Three Friday cards in February start at 3 p.m., and the four marquee days begin at noon. General season tickets went on sale September 1.
| Date | Card |
|---|---|
| November 19 | Opening day |
| November 26 | Thanksgiving Classic |
| December 12 | Louisiana Champions Day, seven state-bred stakes |
| January 16 | Road to the Derby Day, Lecomte (G3) |
| February 13 | Louisiana Derby Preview Day, Risen Star (G2) |
| March 20 | Louisiana Derby Day, eight stakes |
The Lecomte, Risen Star and Louisiana Derby form the track’s path to Churchill Downs, and the 2025-26 meet showed how much they draw: 70 race days and 56 stakes worth $8.65 million, with the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at $1 million. Two Monday cards were added in March 2026. Other tracks’ dates are on the horse racing schedule.
Thanksgiving at the track
Thanksgiving Day racing is a New Orleans custom, and the grandstand, rebuilt after a 1993 fire, reopened on Thanksgiving Day 1997. The track also came back on Thanksgiving Day 2006 after Hurricane Katrina had closed it for more than a year. The Thanksgiving Classic sits on the November 26 card, and race-day tickets are sold in advance.
Clubhouse Dining tickets include a reserved table, while Clubhouse General Admission seating along the paddock windows is first come, first served. The track recommends reserving tables early for the holiday. Racing seasons also bring events such as a jambalaya cook-off in November, line dancing nights and family afternoons around Halloween.
Slots at Fair Grounds Race Course
At Fair Grounds Race Course the slots hall opened as a temporary room in a former simulcast building on September 21, 2007, and moved into a permanent facility on November 14, 2008. It now holds more than 600 machines after a refresh that added over 100 new games. The room is non-smoking, with a smoking courtyard outside.
Opening hours are 9 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to midnight on Sunday. Under Louisiana law the track’s machines are capped, and there are no table games. In July 2026 the slots recorded $3,139,313 in adjusted gross revenue, ahead of Louisiana Downs in Bossier City. A firm budget set before play keeps a visit in proportion.
Sports wagering runs through kiosks in the sportsbook lounge and on the slots floor, covering parlays, props, futures and in-game bets. The lounge opens Sunday, Monday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m., closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and keeps shorter Friday hours. Self-service applies after 8 p.m.
Off-track rooms around New Orleans
The Fair Grounds also operates 13 off-track betting and casino locations in the region, where simulcast wagering sits alongside video poker machines. These rooms carry the track’s player rewards program and serve lunch specials that change by location. Like the slots floor, they are closed to anyone under 21, and children are not permitted in the OTB areas at all.
Those rooms were at the center of a 2025 crisis for Fair Grounds Race Course. In March 2025 the Louisiana Supreme Court held that historical horse racing machines were unconstitutional. Churchill Downs Inc. wrote in June that it intended to surrender its racing license, before state and city leaders brokered a deal that kept the 2025-26 season running.
Food at the races in New Orleans
The Clubhouse by Messina’s serves a daily buffet on race days, and Steak n Shake, which the track describes as the only one in Louisiana, sells steakburgers, tallow fries and shakes near the slots floor. Concession stands cover the grandstand and apron. Outside food and drink are not allowed, with birthday cakes the single stated exception.
The Stable Goods gift shop near the Clubhouse escalator opens an hour before first post. Balloons are banned because they can spook horses. The track is in the Gentilly area, about ten minutes by car from the French Quarter, so a race day fits easily into a weekend spent in the city’s older neighborhoods and music clubs.
Black Gold, Jazz Fest and a long history
Organized racing on this site began on April 10, 1838, at the Louisiana Race Course, and the ground has been called the Fair Grounds since 1863. The 1924 Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold and the mare Pan Zareta are buried in the infield. Churchill Downs Inc. bought the track in 2004, a year before Katrina struck.
Each spring the infield of Fair Grounds Race Course turns into the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival after the meet closes. The other Louisiana track casinos, Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs, race in other seasons, so a fan can follow Louisiana racing through most of the year. The Louisiana racinos page compares all four.