ESPN Horse Racing

Historic Fair Grounds Race Course, located in the heart of New Orleans, was not spared the heavy damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina.

The Fair Grounds property was inundated with water, and a section of the roof in the grandstand was lifted off by the storm's powerful winds. The area around the grandstand and offtrack betting and video poker building was strewn with debris, and there appeared to be other damage to the grandstand.

The racetrack was shown on a video taken from a helicopter that was broadcast on local and national television. Water could be seen covering the infield and throughout the barn area.

New Orleans had no phone service, and cell phones operating on the New Orleans area code, 504, were virtually unreachable Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Fair Grounds's owner, Churchill Downs Inc., said little firm information on specific conditions at the racetrack was available as of early Tuesday afternoon.

The spokeswoman, Julie Koenig Loignon, said "a small contingent of security officers" had ridden out the storm and had confirmed damage to the roof and the main structure.

"We really don't know the status of anything beyond that," Koenig Loignon said. "We haven't been able to get at things, really."

Koenig Loignon said Fair Grounds management personnel had evacuated the city before the storm struck, and were coordinating assessments of the property from out-of-town hotels.

Fair Grounds isn't due to open until late November, with the stable area scheduled to begin accepting horses in October. This time of year, there would have been few people or animals at the track, which is located in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans and sits blocks from Bayou St. John. The bayou flows between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, and presumably would have overflowed its banks during the flooding.

Fair Grounds might have been affected by a levee break Tuesday that was causing water to rise in some parts of the city. The track is located less than five miles from the site of the break, and water was said to be rising in neighborhoods around Fair Grounds.

Churchill Downs Inc. acquired Fair Grounds last year to fill a winter void in its network of racetracks. Fair Grounds is all but approved to operate slot machines, and construction of a slots parlor at the track was to have begun soon.

Much of the Louisiana breeding industry also lay in the path of the hurricane. Many horse farms are located on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, which sustained significant damage. Folsom, the center of horse farm country, lies some 21 miles from the north coast of Lake Pontchartrain.

Churchill Downs sets up hotline
Churchill Downs Incorporated has activated a toll-free information hotline for its Louisiana employees displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

"We are very concerned about the health and welfare of our many team members and their families who are scattered across the country, seeking refuge with relatives, friends and in shelters," said Thomas H. Meeker, CDI's president and chief executive officer. "In order to provide immediate assistance to them, we need to first locate them, and we are asking for the assistance of our employees at CDI facilities across the country, as well as local and regional media, in publicizing this toll-free hotline so our Louisiana team members know how to reach us."

Louisiana employees who call the CDI Louisiana Employee Hotline (877-244-5536) will be asked to provide important contact information and will be put in touch with corporate human resources representatives who can assist them. The CDI Louisiana Employee Hotline will be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.