The Eclipse Race Course was the third formal thoroughbred horse racing track in New Orleans, Louisiana, founded in 1837 by Captain Yelverton Oliver, who owned the famous thoroughbred Richard of York; a native Virginian, who organized The New Orleans Jockey Club.
[1] The first race course in New Orleans as laid out in 1820 by Francois Livaudais on his Live Oak Plantation, near the intersection of St. Charles and Washington Avenues.
The proprietor was Virginia emigrant Captain Yelverton Oliver who would later go on to purchase Oakland Race Course in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Fourth Day, The Louisiana Jockey Club Purse of $2,000, Four Mile Heats, Entrance Fee $150.
The Sixth Day, The New Orleans Plate, consisting of Silver Tea Service valued at $1,000.
On the Second Day of racing, Friday, Dec 7th, Jockey Club Purse $1,200, two-mile heats.