Bush Tracks: Acadiana's Unsanctioned Horse Racing Past Revealed
Tour Description
For over a hundred years the unsanctioned bush tracks of Acadiana drew horse racing fans from near and far.
Today it is easy to drive by the locations, which exhibit none of the equine excitement that once flourished at places like Tee Maurice, Cajun Downs, Broussard Downs, Linzay Downs, Carencro Raceway, the Quarter Pole.
Locations for Tour
The Legendary Carencro Raceways
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…
The 440 Yard Journey: Cajun Downs, 1898-1998
But it’s how many young boys found themselves on a sweltering south Louisiana Sunday afternoon—sitting atop 1200 pounds of hot, sweaty horse and getting ready for the ride of their lives. “They’d tie you on the saddle in your underwear to keep you…
Lâche pas la Patate: The Quarter Pole Training Center
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…
Allons Chez Tee Maurice: Tee Maurice Race Track and Dance Hall, 1902-1983
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…