On Tuesday, Louisiana Downs will host 16 schooling races for open-bred and Louisiana-bred juveniles.

© Ann Switalski Photography

BOSSIER CITY, LA–FEBRUARY 1, 2025–Highly anticipated action for the 2025 2-year-old crop of American Quarter Horses will get under way on Tuesday when Louisiana Downs will host 16 schooling races for juveniles nominated to the Grade 2 $400,000-est.Louisiana Downs Futurity and the restricted Grade 2 $600,000-est. Mardi Gras Futurity.

To be contested over 220 yards, the schooling races are non-parimutuel races. They give young horses valuable experience while they prepare for their two-year-old racing season.

A pair of five-figure Louisiana-bred LQHBA Yearling Sale graduates will face off in Tuesday's last race (16). 

Trainer Lanny Keith will saddle $62,000 sale graduate Diane To Be Imperial, a daughter of leading thoroughbred sprinter Imperial Hint from the Pyc Paint Your Wagon mare Diane To Paint, a sister to world champion sire Freighttrain B. Jockey Noe Castaneda has been tapped to ride the filly from the five post for owner Blackmon Quarter Horses LLC.

Owner-trainer Jose Espinosa has named jockey Arturo Alvarez to ride $50,000 LQHBA graduate Moneys Right from the two post. The son of multiple stakes sire Five Bar Cartel is out of a sister to Texas Classic Futurity(G1) winner Tres Friends. The second dam is AQHA Dam of Distinction Lotta Love For Robyn is also the dam of Golden State Million Futurity(G1) winner Lotta Blues Man.

The highest-selling open bred that starts on Tuesday is Exoduz, a Hawkeye filly racing for owner Cy Howard Perry, who Ricardo Aguirre trains. Jockey Frederico Vargas will ride the $50,000 TQHA Sale graduate out of the Grade 3 Miss Princess Handicap winner La Rusa, by Walk Thru Fire, in race 9.

Aguirre also taps Vargas to ride Chinga Chinga Dash, a Tempting Dash filly in Race 5. Owner Cy Howard Perry paid $45,000 at the TQHA sale for the half-sister to stakes winners La Mos Corona and La Mos Pyc. The filly's dam, La Mos Chingono, is a Heza Fast Dash multiple-stakes winner and producer.

CLICK HERE to download a program of race starts, including sires, dams, owners, trainers, jockeys, and summer sale prices if applicable.

All horses competing in the schooling races must be microchipped for identification purposes and have papers on file in the racing office. A $40 entry fee must be on deposit with the bookkeeper or paid to the racing office before the races.

The trials for Louisiana Downs Futurity-G2 will be held on March 6 and 7. The Mardi Gras Futurity trials will be run on March 8 and 9. The finals for both races will run on March 29 at a distance of 300 yards.

CLICK HERE to visit the Louisiana Downs YouTube Channel, where the schooling races will be streamed live during the event.

About Louisiana Downs
Located on 280 acres near Shreveport in Bossier City, Louisiana, it opened on October 30, 1974, with approximately 15,000 fans in attendance for the first day of its inaugural meet. Built by the late shopping center magnate Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr., the track was a success, setting numerous national records for handling and attendance throughout the 1970s and ’80s. In 1980, plans were announced for the first running of the Super Derby, a 1-1/4 mile race to be run in the fall with the hope of attracting the best three-year-olds in the country and impacting the end-of-the-year championships. With a $500,000 purse, the race was the richest ever for three-year-old Thoroughbreds.

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