The Richard family possesses a sort of dynastic quality in the world of Cajun bush tracks. Maurice Richard and his wife, Celestine, bought the property in 1902 in present-day Church Point, an area once known locally as Marais des Buller.

The Richard family's involvement with horse racing goes back to the early nineteenth century. A sharecropper by trade, Maurice loved racing his horses against those of his neighbors. He considered opening an unsanctioned quarter horse track, but with eleven children, life was hectic, and he needed the land to grow crops. However, as the great New York Yankee legend Yogi Berra once said, “When you get to a fork in the road, take it.” That is exactly what Maurice did. Choosing both routes, he divided his time—and land— between the farm and the track, which he aptly named Tee Maurice. Tee Maurice grew to be a bastion of quarter horse racing in Acadiana and a major entertainment hotspot.

In the 1930s, Maurice’s son Ellis opened a dance hall that the locals named “Richard’s Casino.” Food and music became an inseparable part of the landscape. Renowned musicians such as Happy Fats, Johnnie Allan, and Blackie Forestier played at the dance hall at Tee Maurice. One night could see as many as 700 people waltzing to the music of “Doc” Guidry. 

In addition to the original ten arpent straight quarter horse track, the Richards eventually built a one-half-mile thoroughbred track behind the dance hall. A stock car track was later added. Tee Maurice became known as the grandest and most renowned bush track in the area, with the ability to attract thousands of visitors in one weekend.

The family owned several trucks and would drive to Opelousas, Lewisburg, Lawtell, Sunset, and Carencro to pick racegoers up and bring them to watch the races and dance. Others would walk or arrive in their wagons. Tee Maurice and Richard's Club closed in 1983 when Ellis Richard passed away.

A visit to the property to speak to Ellis’ son, Winston, daughter-in-law, Kathy, and daughter, Guinn, was an enjoyable experience. They knew the stories well. They sat around the kitchen table, reliving the glory days of Tee Maurice. The track and dance hall are as much a part of them as the family who came before them. They remembered people who are long gone, and exchanged stories with each other as if they were trading baseball cards. 

A stroll around the property was meaningful. I saw the old dance hall, which Winston converted into a barn for his horses. Walking into the shaded entrance on that bright April afternoon, I could not help feeling the excitement of a new day meeting old history. Mrs. Kathy must have been thinking the same thing. “I wonder how many feet danced right here,” she thought aloud.

120 years have come and gone since the first horses stepped onto the track at Tee Maurice. A slab foundation at the road serves as proof that a dance hall once existed. The dance hall is now a barn for the Richard’s horses. Its walls, which recently sustained hurricane damage, are a memorial to our ancestors who contributed so greatly to the music and horse culture of Cajun country— A perfect example of how the landscape is always changing and of how we live alongside our history.

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The site where Carencro Raceways once stood is now a place of quiet reflection. The soft, green lawn with its neatly kept graves serves as a place of remembrance. It's hard to imagine that a famed bush track existed where Evangeline Memorial Gardens currently stands. Evidence of the serene landscape’s history surfaces from time to time; a groundskeeper on the property proclaims that they still find remnants of the races when digging a new grave. Old beer bottles and bottle tops emerge in the freshly dug dirt.

Acadiana’s unsanctioned race tracks were famous throughout North America. So much so that in 1977, Walter Matthau filmed "Casey’s Shadow", a film about a “down-and-out Cajun trainer with a big dream,” in honor of the tracks' legacies. A match race in Matthau's 1977 movie, heralded as “one of the best racing movies of all time,” was filmed at Carencro Raceways.

Races at unsanctioned tracks were the highlight of the week and a major social event. Entire families would turn out on Sundays throughout the year, as there was no specific racing season. “It was a standard thing every Sunday. You came to the bush track and that was your pastime,” said Harris Desormeaux, world-renowned jockey, Kent Desormeaux’s father. Fred Girouard, the longtime maître d at Evangeline Downs, confirms the social component of bush track racing in an interview, stating “On Sunday, boy, people would come from all over. Nobody had much, and sometimes you’d see five families coming in one car.”

Racing in Acadiana was exciting and unique. Cajuns raced quarter horses instead of thoroughbreds. But what truly made racing in Acadiana different from the rest of the country were the jockeys. The riders were primarily boys, most as young as 6 or 7 years old. The smaller and lighter, the better. It is because riders started racing at such an early age that Louisiana has produced more winning jockeys than any other state in North America. Racing legends such as Calvin Borel, Robby Albarado, Shane Sellers, Kent Desormeaux, Eddie Delahoussaye, and Joe Talamo cut their teeth on the unsanctioned tracks and credit sites like Carencro Raceways to their meteoric rise in the racing world.

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It was quiet at the Quarter Pole in Rayne on a cool and overcast Friday morning visit. Definitely a far cry from its former days of racing glory in the early 1970s, there were no enthusiastic crowds drinking beer and catching up on the weeks' news while placing their bets. However, there was some activity. Horses were being exercised on hot walkers, and jockey Brent David was breezing horses around the track. While most of the bush tracks around Acadiana consisted of two straight lanes separated by rails, the Quarter Pole has a half-mile oval track.

The track is known locally as having been a training ground for some of the world’s greatest jockeys. On any given Sunday, you could find a young Kent Desormeaux at the track entrance, begging owners to let him ride their horses. With his Cajun lilt and easy confidence in the saddle, jockey Brent David talks about his first race as a fourteen-year-old. “My dad had to sign a paper for me to ride. After that first race, I had to do it again. It was like a fever.”

As for the actual races, anything went. There were no rules and people would do anything to win. Rocks in a beer can was an effective way to get a horse to run. Tie it to the horse’s mane and the noise would scare the wits out of it, sending the horse flying down the track. Roosters were similarly effective.

Ronald Ardoin is one of the most successful riders who emerged from Louisiana bush tracks. He says, “You’d race against a horse with a fighting rooster, or a bag of rocks. I’ve raced against horses ridden by monkeys. The only thing you could do was hold on and whip that son of a gun.”

The Acadians have a saying, lâche pas la patate, which means “don’t let go of the potato,” or “don’t give up”—an apt description for the Quarter Pole, as it has changed ownership many times over its history, and it still functions as a track. However, rules and regulations have ended the days of utilizing roosters and monkeys as a means to win. The proof is seen on a sign hanging on the side of the barn, warning riders “no galloping of horses in the opposite direction, no galloping on the inside rail, proof of workman's comp, chin straps must be buckled at all times, vest protection must be fastened.” But the electricity of the crowd and excitement of the sport remains, and Acadians can still get a taste of what was a favorite Louisiana pastime for over 150 years. So, grab your favorite person and a chili cheese hotdog from Menard’s Cajun Grocery in Duson, and head out to the Quarter Pole to catch the races which take place on the first Sunday of each month.

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