(Loving Living Local)-Louisiana Downs celebrates New Year’s Eve with a party the entire family can enjoy. Starting at 9 pm in the Downs Pavilion, you can expect high-energy music, great food, plenty of cocktails and mocktails, and a spectacular fireworks show at midnight, which can be watched from the track apron outside or from the 2nd story grandstand, and a full New Year’s Day lunch from 11 pm to 5 pm, complete with black-eyed peas and cornbread at The Inside Rail.
Racing Roxy Tanner is excited about this year’s celebration, which includes Quarter Horse racing, starting in January and running through March. “In January, we start with a 26-day meet this year. We’ve got a number of quarter horses already on our backside, so it’s always thrilling to get them back here.”
Quarter Horse racing is faster-paced than thoroughbred racing, Roxy explained. “We run a variety of distances, 1:10 being our shortest, which is basically a 100-yard dash, whereas our longest race (a hook race) is an 870 – a half-mile race.” Quarter horses can reach up to 55 miles per hour, so it’s considered “drag-racing for horses.”…