By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

Louisiana Downs should get routine approval today for designated races in its quarterhorse meet and for a 70-day thoroughbred season that will see a return to some weekend racing at the 50-year-old Bossier City track.

The Louisiana State Racing Commission meets today in Vinton at Delta Downs. Local commissioners are veteran Mike McHallfey, the LSRC’s first vice chairman, and newcomer Rock Bordelon, recently appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry.

Representatives of the local track are slated to present an update on infrastructure, escrow and other topics, according to the agenda. There has been interest from the commission in Louisiana Downs following the lead of Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs and installing lights for night racing, but that concept seems to have lost some traction in the past year.

Louisiana Downs has slated 16 “designated” quarterhorse races from Feb. 3-March 29, including the Billy Montgomery Stakes on Feb. 15 and the Louisiana Downs Futurity Finals and the Mardi Gras Futurity Finals on March 29.

The thoroughbred meet is proposed for May 3-Sept. 25. After running on weekdays for all but a handful of Saturdays in the 2024 season, Louisiana Downs has a split of weekend schedules beginning on Saturdays and Sundays, along with a shift exclusively to weekday races in August and September. That brings into question plans for the track’s traditional major race, the Super Derby, which has always been staged on a September Saturday.

The proposed schedule includes three Saturday racing days, beginning with Kentucky Derby Day May 3 to open the season. There are eight Sundays that start a week’s racing in May (11, 25), June (8, 15, 22 and 29) and July (14, 21, 28).

The meet equals last year’s 70-day schedule. Standard post time is slated for 4:05.

Track racing ambassador Roxanne Tanner is in line for formal approval as director of racing, an appointment announced last week by the track.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com