The 2025-'26 Meet at the Fair Grounds begins this week with large and competitive fields throughout. Louisiana-bred 2-year-old fillies will be featured in the $100,000 Donovan L. Ferguson Memorial Stakes on Friday, Nov. 21, the leadoff leg in the Late Pick 3. Here’s a closer look and a suggested $1 ticket that costs $40.

FG 7th race (4:45 p.m. EST) -- Favorites dominated in the first three runnings of the Ferguson Memorial. Not sure if LITTLE MISS CURLIN will assume that role off a smashing debut victory at Delta Downs, but she is worthy as a solo play in the Pick 3 off that effort. She accelerated inside rivals on the backstretch to secure the lead position, was pressed by the 17-1 runner-up to the top of the stretch and exploded in the final 1/8 of a mile to win by 4-1/4 lengths in :58-3/5, less than a second off a 5F starter allowance for the boys on the same card. She breezed a 4F bullet workout in :47.3 since the win.

FG 8th race (5:15 p.m. EST) -- The possibilities abound in this 5-1/2F Maiden Special Weight turf sprint, so go 8-deep on the ticket. MORE SWEETER worked fast between her two starts but was no factor either time. Her debut race, however, produced Grade 2 winner Miss Grillo and two follow-up MSW winners. ACQUAZURRA, a $300,000 sales buy, exited a double ‘key’ dirt sprint and pressed the pace from post 11 while 3-to 5-wide last out. She gets Lasix for her grassy debut. NELSON’S PENNY exits a pair of six-figure turf sprints that produced follow-up stakes winners. STRESS TEST rallied to finish third behind a speedy winner in her debut at Horseshoe Indianapolis. WOOTEN WARRIOR’s sire, Wootton Bassett, was 5-8 and a multiple turf stakes winner of $843k. AL MUHEERAH debuts for trainer Brendan Walsh, whose debut 2-year-olds are 20-for-125 the last two years with a positive return on investment. More than half of those starters were dismissed at single-digit odds. The son of Kitten’s Joy is out of the dam, Musawaah, a stakes-winning grass router in France. MY BLUE LINE and BUGS MALONE will try to enhance trainer Michael Stidham’s strong numbers with first-time starters on the turf, but they are uncoupled in the wagering. MY BLUE LINE’s sire, Blue Point, was 10-for-20 and a multiple Group 1 winner of $2.9 million overseas. BUGS MALONE is out of the dam Maya Princess, whose siblings are 34/6-5-6 in turf sprints. (Note: Use #14 SPRING IN PARIS if she draws into the race.)

FG 9th race (5:45 p.m. EST) -- MY MAN BRANDON (8-1) gets pace to run at and gets the top call in a wide-open, 6F MSW sprint. He sustained a strong 4- and 5-wide rally in a 5F sprint at Delta Downs but couldn’t reach the rival he bumped at the break. MISTER BANDERAS dueled with the second favorite in a race dominated by deep closers. He shortens up for the high-percentage claim barn of trainer Tom Amoss and is a must use off a bullet 5F work over the track. SHOT GUN SHACK ran loose on the lead in his March debut at Fair Grounds and finished second, 1/2 of a length ahead of FREE SCRIM, his closest pursuer, who didn’t change leads in the stretch. The race produced three MSW winners with an average 58 Beyer and a stakes runner-up. SHOT GUN SHACK tired in his return at Churchill Downs and FREE SCRIM starts off an eight-month layoff. MUSICAL BAND also merits price-play consideration, returning to the main track for the first time since a much-improved second in a productive long sprint at Louisiana Downs in May.

Suggested $1 Ticket
FG 7th Race: 2
FG 8th Race: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (AE-#14)
FG 9th Race: 1, 7, 9, 10, 11
Cost: $40