The opening day of racing at the Fair Grounds Race Course will have some notable guests Thursday.
New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson, team president Dennis Lauscha and other team executives are expected to attend, along with Pelicans director of basketball operations Joe Dumars.
They’ll be there to watch the No. 7 horse in the ninth and final race. Joey D, a 2-year-old colt making his first start, is owned by Benson and named after Dumars, who was hired to run the club’s basketball operation in April.
“We asked Joe what his nickname was as a player, and he said, ‘Joey D,’” Lauscha said. “So that’s the name we gave him. He (Dumars) loved it.”
Joey D is the dark brown son of Lone Sailor, one of the Benson stable’s most successful runners, and was bred at T&G Farm, her horse farm outside of Georgetown, Ky. Lone Sailor won the Grade I Oklahoma Derby and earned more than $1.2 million in his 27-start career.
Benson’s racing operation, GMB Racing, has not raced a horse since 2023 and has focused almost exclusively on the breeding side of the business the last four years. But Joey D’s connections elected to keep the horse and race him after he failed to meet his reserve price of $19,500 at the Texas Thoroughbred Association Yearling Sale last year.
“When they said we have a Louisiana-bred for you, I was tickled to death,” said veteran trainer Sturges Ducoing, a Louisiana native who was familiar with Dumars from his time at McNeese State and the Detroit Pistons. “I was racing in Detroit when Joe Dumars played for the Pistons. I remember him well. He was a very, very good plays, so I was happy when they came to me with Joey D.”
Over the years, the stable has named many of its horses after Benson or her late husband, Tom Benson. Joey D is the first named after one of their club's existing employees. The stable also had Tez, a gray gelding named after former NFL star and Saints staffer Cortez Kennedy.
"When (Joey D) didn't sell at auction, we decided to keep him and race him and have some fun with him," Lauscha said.
Joey D is 10-1 on the morning line. He’ll break from the No. 7 post against a full field of 11 other Louisiana-bred maidens. He'll be ridden by Hunter Rea, who recorded his first career win as a jockey on Wednesday night at Delta Downs.
“He’s a nice horse,” Ducoing said. “You never know anything until you run them, but I think we have a chance to win.”