There’s new ownership, a new dirt surface, but when it comes to racing it’s pretty much the same old, same old when Indiana Grand launches a marathon 120-day race meeting with a 10-race program Tuesday. The mixed Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse meeting (much heavier on the former than the latter) will be the first full season since Caesars Entertainment took control of Indiana Grand. Rest assured, the property was purchased for the large casino that sits slightly detached from the relatively small racing grandstand and funds a great deal of Indiana Grand’s solid purse structure. Jon Schuster, vice president and general manager of racing, said Indiana Grand averaged about $190,000 in daily overnight purses during the 2018 season and begins this meet with the same purse structure in place. Also in place: a new racing surface installed starting shortly after the 2018 meet ended. The project fell somewhat behind schedule because of a rough winter, according to Schuster, but was a success. “That went really, really well,” Schuster said. “We struggled with weather back in the fall and here in the spring, but it was okay. We took our time and got everything right.” Schuster’s conclusion was affirmed by more than one horseman with stock at Indiana Grand this spring. Indiana Grand typically opens for training five weeks before the meet, but this year, because of the resurfacing, training was conducted only during the last two weeks. Still, Schuster said that is a minor factor in the fairly short fields on opening day – and perhaps for some days to come – compared to the impact Oaklawn Park’s extended season is having on Indiana Grand. Oaklawn historically would have concluded its meeting this past Saturday but will race into early May this year. “We’ve probably got a dozen of our guys down there,” Schuster said. Indiana Grand also can’t lean on turf racing until early May. The turf course is covered in protective blankets right now, Schuster said. The course won’t be opened for racing before the first or second week in May. Indiana Grand averaged 8.19 starters in its 1,091 races last season, down from 8.25 the year before on a comparable number of grass races, which attract more starters than dirt races. Betting for the season was down incrementally, Schuster said. Betting showed considerable year-to-year gains early last meet before dipping partway through the season for reasons, Schuster said, that still aren’t really understood. The track, which maintains a close relationship with the Indiana breeding industry, runs many races restricted to Indiana-bred horses, and races open only to Indiana-sired runners have been on the rise. The late-meet stakes schedule is especially lucrative for horsemen with Indiana-bred or -sired horses of even modest ability. Tom Amoss and Genaro Garcia tied for leading-trainer honors at 45 wins during the 2018 season, but where Genaro needed 297 starters to hit that mark, Amoss got there with 136. Both trainers are in action opening week, and Schuster said the training colony, which also includes a productive string from Brad Cox, will bear a strong resemblance to last season. A surprising number of talented 2-year-olds have raced at Indiana Grand the last two years, among them champion Monomoy Girl in 2017. Among the starters at last year’s meet were recent Lexington Stakes winner Owendale and stakes winner Marquee Prince, both for Cox, as well as the Amoss-trained winner of the Rachel Alexandra Stakes in February, Serengeti Empress, and Amoss’s graded stakes-placed colt Roiland. Those horses ran in maiden or allowance races. The track’s major card, which includes the Indiana Derby and Indiana Oaks, is July 13. There are also attractive programs for 3-year-old and 3-year-old filly turf horses. Racing generally is conducted four times weekly, with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday cards beginning at 2:15 p.m. Eastern and Saturday programs at 6:15. Quarter Horse races come at the end of standard cards but make up the entire program on six Saturdays scattered throughout the meeting. Fairmount meet starts Tuesday Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Ill., opens a 40-day meeting Tuesday with modest expectations. Fairmount, for lack of purse money, has received permission in the past from the Illinois Racing Board to cut short its scheduled meeting for lack of purse funds. As of now, the St. Louis-area venue will race only Tuesdays during April, with Saturday evening cards added in May through the meet’s scheduled conclusion in mid-September. Fairmount got 71 entries for its opening eight-race program. Purse money – derived from handle and a meager subsidy – falls well below subsistence level, however, with claiming races, including an Illinois owners bonus, worth as little as $6,800 and the maximum allowance purse set at $16,000, including the bonus.