Fair Grounds Picks: Lecomte Stakes Day, 1/17/26

Key Takeaways

• Lecomte Stakes Day is Fair Grounds’ first major card of 2026, featuring 13 races and six stakes spanning Derby and Oaks preps, turf, and dirt divisions.
• The Lecomte and Silverbulletday headline the program, offering early but meaningful Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks qualifying points for improving three-year-olds.
• Turf sprints and mid-distance turf races on the undercard present strong betting value, especially with horses like Bear River and Heart Headed, whose form is better than it looks on paper.
• The Silverbulletday sets up as a tactical race in a short field, favoring fillies who can secure position and make the first decisive move.
• Pace dynamics loom large in the Louisiana (G3), where a crowded speed picture makes proven closers like Sir Greyling and Moonlight especially appealing betting targets.

Saturday, January 17, is the first marquee horse racing day of the year at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. The blockbuster 13-race card features six stakes races, with major events for both three-year-olds and older horses.

The two sophomore stakes both have classic implications: the Grade 3, $250,000 Lecomte is a Kentucky Derby prep that offers 20-10-6-4-2 qualifying points to the top five finishers, and serves to get horses ready for further preps for the Run for the Roses. In that race, Gun Runner Stakes winner Chip Honcho seeks to give trainer Steve Asmussen his record fifth Lecomte win. The Silverbulletday offers the same share of points on the Fair Grounds road to the Kentucky Oaks. The Silverbulletday features a clash between graded-stakes horses from Churchill Downs and multiple runners from the Untapable at Fair Grounds last month.

The 13-race card also features the Louisiana (G3) for older dirt route horses, the Colonel E. R. Bradley for older turf routers, the Marie G. Krantz Memorial for turf route fillies and mares, and the Duncan F. Kenner for older turf sprinters. It gets underway at noon Central on Saturday. You can watch every race and get up-to-the-minute news on FanDuel TV, and you can place your bets all day long at FanDuel.

Don’t forget to check the weather and scratches on race day before you place your bets. Though skies are expected to be cloudy but dry on Saturday at Fair Grounds, that can change. Furthermore, scratches can happen for any reason, and can affect the pace and class balances in a race.

The feature race of the day at Fair Grounds, the Lecomte Stakes, is an excellent betting race, but it is not the only great betting opportunity on the card. Here are three best bets elsewhere on the card to help you build your bankroll for the Lecomte:

Fair Grounds Best Bets

Race 7 - Duncan F. Kenner, 5 ½ furlongs on the turf course - Bear River and Heart Headed

FanDuel odds: 8-1 and 7-2

Bet now at FanDuel

When betting a turf sprint with an overflow field, muddled form is your friend. After all, if a horse who specializes in these kinds of races has those results hidden between races with excuses, they’re likely to go off at longer odds than what their fair odds should be. And, that’s the case with Bear River (8-1). Yes, he was well beaten last out behind a horse he faces again today, but that was in the Thanksgiving Classic, a dirt race, and that winner Wendelssohn is primarily a dirt horse. Two back, Bear River was well beaten in a turf sprint—but that was only going a flat five in the Breeders’ Cup against horses like Shisospicy, Ag Bullet, and Khaadem, the likes of which he won’t find here. Bear River is 2-for-2 on the Fair Grounds grass, he has four wins in turf sprint races at either five or 5 ½ furlongs, and he should be fast enough to get his place on or near the lead and be a factor from pillar to post, and at anything near his morning-line odds, he’ll be a big overlay.

Another runner who has been doing a little bit of everything—though doing just about all of it well—is Heart Headed (7-2). A high-priced darling at the claim box through all of last year, Joe Sharp has run him in top-shelf allowances in his last two starts, both times in 5 ½-furlong turf dashes, and he has gotten his picture taken both times. He won by disqualification last out, but he was the horse who was interfered with; he wasn’t just kissed up. He disputed the pace last time out, but he has the versatility to sit a few lengths back, as he showed in his last two starts. The meet’s leading rider, jockey Jose Ortiz, has ridden him both ways, and that rapport should help him work out a good trip.

Also worth a side note for intra-race exotic players is High Front (10-1). Though he isn’t much of a winner—three wins in 24 starts—he has hit the board another nine times. All three of those wins, and six of those nine other money finishes, have come in turf dashes. He has proven he can pass horses, and though he was beaten over course and distance last out after disputing the pace, if new jockey Florent Geroux can get him back into his more customary tracking or midpack style, he should threaten for a share.

Race 10 - Silverbulletday Stakes, one mile and 70 yards on the dirt - Taken by the Wind, Atropa

FanDuel odds: 5-2 and 2-1

Bet now at FanDuel

In a six-horse field, especially when there’s no one in the field who looks likely to gun it and not stop, it’s good to look at a horse who can get first run. Pashmina is likely to be the early pacemaker, but she set a leisurely pace last out in the Untapable and still couldn’t hold on—in short, she needs a lot of improvement or else she’ll once again be too slow. However, Taken by the Wind (5-2) does look to get first run from a good middle draw. She hasn’t raced since September, but that was a convincing win in the Pocahontas. The Kenny McPeek trainee stretches out to two turns for the first time, but a mile and seventy yards shouldn’t test her pedigree too much, and she was close enough to the pace in seven-furlong and one-turn mile starts last year to suggest that she has enough pep in her step to be the horse they’ll have to catch when Pashmina starts to flatten out.

Of course, the favorite is talented enough not to overlook completely, and may be able to work a decent trip anyway. Atropa (2-1) is well proven at two turns: she was a blowout maiden winner going 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland last year and then followed that up with a narrow defeat in the Golden Rod (G2) at the same distance in November during the Stars of Tomorrow II card at Churchill Downs. The Golden Rod effort had her coming from midfield into a sharp pace, but she sat closer in her maiden win, and though that may be a hard trip to work from the inside, at least it’s only a field of six and not a larger and more troublesome number. The Cherie DeVaux trainee keeps Jose Ortiz in the irons – good news, both because of the rapport and because DeVaux and Ortiz have been red-hot together in recent months.

Race 12 - Louisiana Stakes (G3), 1 1/16 miles on the dirt - Sir Greylind and Moonlight

FanDuel odds: 5-1 and 9-2

Bet now at FanDuel

The Louisiana is an interesting betting race because it has a questionable favorite. Yes, Just a Touch has shown class, but he hasn’t raced since last July. Furthermore, and even more worryingly, he is a speed horse. So is Willy D’s. So is Tarantino. So is Accelerize, who comes from speedy Gulfstream and makes his stake debut. In short, this pace is going to be red-hot, and that’s going to ask a lot of him in his first start off the bench, especially when he will be running against some quality closers.

One of those is the consistent Sir Greyling (5-1). The Kenny McPeek trainee makes his graded-stakes debut in this, but ran a quality second in the Tenacious Stakes over this distance at Fair Grounds last month on the Gun Runner undercard. He does his best work at 1 1/16 miles on the dirt, and whether the pace in front of him is moderate or sharp, he always comes rolling home a threat. He needs to run one of his better races to be a win candidate here, but those better races have come in his last few, so if he holds his form, he should be right there at the end, especially with the good setup.

Moonlight (9-2) is another with the right running style. The one concern is that he is probably at his absolute best going the one-turn mile as opposed to 1 1/16 miles, but he has two wins and a second-place finish at the distance of this race as well, including a blowout allowance win last year over the distance at Fair Grounds – he beat off-turf foes, but did so as conclusively as he should have for a horse who has grown into a stakes-quality dirt horse. Any of his recent races are fast enough to make him a serious threat, and despite his accomplished career through the years at Arlington Park, Chris Block is still a trainer who tends to fly under the radar and has horses go off overlaid compared to better-known barns.

New to FanDuel Racing? Place your first bet up to $500 on any race at any track and get it back in Racing Bonus if it doesn’t win! Valid in participating states. See here for full terms and conditions. Learn about today’s other offers at FanDuel Sportsbook Promos.

Looking for more horse racing betting opportunities? Head over to FanDuel Racing to see all of today’s horse racing odds.

Sign up for FanDuel Sportsbook and FanDuel Daily Fantasy today!