Fair Grounds Race Course, often known as New Orleans Fair Grounds, is a thoroughbred racetrack and racino in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As early as 1838 Bernard de Marigny, Julius C Branch and Henry Augustine Tayloe, organized races at the “Louisiana Race Course” laid out on Gentilly Road, making it the second oldest site of horseracing in America still in operation, after Freehold Raceway and before the Saratoga Race Course. It began on April 10th and lasted for five days. In 1852 it was renamed the Union Race Course. In 2009, the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America. Of the top Fifteen, New Orleans Fair Grounds was ranked #12, behind Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, Louisiana, which was ranked #6.
The track consists of a one-mile (1.6 km) dirt track and a seven-furlong turf oval. Unlike most dirt courses in North America, the track has no chutes. In addition to the grandstand and clubhouse, an adjacent building, formerly used for simulcasting, opened on September 21, 2007 as a temporary slot-machine gaming facility
