Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem Mar. 19, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you all! Big 100 point prep races kick off this weekend in Florence, Kentucky at Turfway and down in New Orleans at the Fair Grounds. These next three weeks are three of the most fun racing weeks of the year in my opinion, and I’m very much looking forward to it. 

The Fair Grounds card has some real highlights including Touchuponastar going for his second straight New Orleans Classic (G2) in a race that’s absolutely loaded with speed. I have to assume they’ll take back and try to rally from off the pace, but it should be a super interesting edition of the race. Touchuponastar has to be the coolest state-bred runner going right now in the country and a win here I believe puts him right at that $2 million career earnings mark. Which would be an amazing achievement! 

I was thinking back to some of the past runnings of the Louisiana Derby (G2) tonight and it’s a race with a really cool history. It’s also a race where I feel like I often end up leaning on the winner as my Kentucky Derby pick, only to be disappointed! That traces back to 2005 when on the first Saturday in May, I was absolutely sure that High Limit was going to win. I loved his win in the Louisiana Derby so much that I keyed him in all my Kentucky Derby wagers. He ran last so I didn’t win much of anything. 

Pyro is probably my favorite horse to win the race this century as I’m a sucker for a deep closer. HIs win in the Risen Star (G2) was more memorable than his Louisiana Derby score to me. I remember John Dooley’s call and the race made the Sportscenter Top 10 that day. “Pyro, like a rocket ship!” So good. 

Fair Grounds is one of those tracks I truly didn’t find out about until after college. Growing up I only watched Longacres and the Triple Crown races and when Longacres closed in 1992, I stopped following racing all together for about eight or nine years. When my dad got sick in 2000, I started going with him to the races more and after he passed away in 2001, I just kept going. It was then that simulcasting became more of a thing and I started learning about tracks like Keeneland, Turfway Park, Hoosier Park, and Fair Grounds. 

The thing that stuck out to me most about Fair Grounds and something I’d love for them to bring back is the yellow starting gate!  Go watch the 2004 or 2005 Louisiana Derby on Youtube and check out that big bright yellow starting gate. I always thought it was so unique and separated Fair Grounds from the green starting gate that so many places have. I know New York has a blue one and many of the smaller fair tracks usually have white gates, but I don’t remember seeing a yellow gate anywhere but the Fair Grounds. 

I think a trend we’ve seen in most sports is everything starting to look and feel the same. Every arena for hockey and basketball is basically the same. Sure there’s different amenities and stuff, but they all feel the same to me and I’ve been to a bunch of them. Baseball stadiums have done a pretty good job of having something unique about them, even though the big trend is to have the city skyline views in the outfield for the new ones. I think one of racing’s real strengths is for tracks to look and be distinct, both on track and on the simulcast show. And sometimes it’s just little touches, like the yellow starting gate at Fair Grounds. Couple cans of paint and we’ll all be whisked back to good old 2005. 

Even with the green gate, I hope it’s a great day in New Orleans and a great day for you wherever you might be playing.