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Battered By Hurricane Laura, Delta Downs Is Back in Business

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By Bill Finley

Take a quick glance at the opening day card at Delta Downs and it might seem like nothing has changed. The fields for Tuesday’s races are full, perennial leading trainer Karl Broberg has seven entered and the feature is a $60,000 stakes for Louisiana-breds that has attracted horses from the stables of Tom Amoss and Steve Asmussen.

But this will be a meet unlike any other at the track that sits just a few miles east of the Texas-Louisiana border. Delta Downs was directly in the path of Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm with winds reaching 150 miles per hour that all but tore the place apart when it hit land on Aug. 27. Since then, there’s been a full-court press to get the track ready for a delayed opening day of a meet that will be conducted during the day.

 

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DELTA DOWNS PREPARES FOR 2020-21 THOROUGHBRED SEASON; HISTORIC STORMS FORCE CHANGES IN DAILY SCHEDULE, POST TIMES AND STAKES ACTIVITY

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– HURRICANES LAURA AND DELTA HAD MAJOR IMPACT ON THE VINTON RACETRACK –

 

 

VINTON, LA. – Delta Downs’ 2020-21 Thoroughbred season will see plenty of changes after a pair of powerful storms caused heavy damage to the racetrack during the offseason.

 

Hurricane Laura, which struck the Vinton, Louisiana area on August 27 as a Category 4 storm with winds of nearly 150 miles per hour, caused extensive damage to the facility before Hurricane Delta struck nearly the same area as a Category 2 storm on October 9.

 

Due to the lengthy repairs necessary, Delta Downs’ season has been pushed back from its original starting date of October 6 and will now begin on Tuesday, November 24. The 84-day meeting will run through April 16 and feature live racing each Monday through Thursday following opening week. Post times for this season will be at 12:55 pm Central Time each day since the lighting system was damaged beyond repair and nighttime racing was made impossible.

 

Delta Downs’ stakes schedule for the upcoming season has also been altered this year. Overall, the track will offer 22 added-money races worth a total of $1.745 million.

 

The stakes activity will begin on opening week with a pair of $60,000 races, the Lookout and the B Connected Stakes, on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 24 and 25. The track will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26 before the week wraps up on Friday and Saturday with a pair of $100,000 events, the Treasure Chest and the Delta Mile.

 

The richest race day of the year will happen on Wednesday, February 10 when the track hosts the 18th edition of Louisiana Premier Day. The star-studded program will include 10 stakes races for Louisiana-bred horses and a total of $805,000 in total purse money. The featured race on Louisiana Premier Day will be the $125,000 Louisiana Premier Day Championship for older horses traveling 1 1/16 miles.

 

For more information about the upcoming season, including the entire stakes schedule, visit the track’s website atwww.deltadownsracing.com. Fans can also get information about the track through Facebook by visiting the page ‘Delta Downs Racing’. The track’s Twitter handle is @deltaracing.

 

Delta Downs Racetrack Casino and Hotel, a property of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD), features exciting casino action, live horse racing and fun dining experiences. Delta Downs is located in Vinton, Louisiana, on Delta Downs Drive. From Lake Charles, take Exit 7 and from Texas, take Exit 4.

 

DELTA DOWNS WORKS TOWARD REVISED SCHEDULE FOR 2020-21 THOROUGHBRED SEASON

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REPAIRS TO RACETRACK UNDERWAY AFTER HURRICANE LAURA

September 28, 2020

VINTON, LA – Delta Downs Racetrack Casino Hotel today announced that it is working toward a revised start date for its 2020-21 Thoroughbred season, following delays caused by heavy damage to the track from Hurricane Laura on August 27.

Based on the progress of repairs to date, Delta Downs believes it will be able to allow horses to move back on the grounds and start training by late October and begin live racing in late November.

This year’s meet was originally scheduled to run from October 6, 2020 to February 27, 2021 for a total of 84 race days. The end of the season may now be revised and extended along with a change in the total number of race days, pending approval from the Louisiana Racing Commission

Steve Kuypers, Vice President & General Manager of Delta Downs, said: “Boyd Gaming and Delta Downs are committed to hosting a successful 2020-21 Thoroughbred meet here in Vinton, Louisiana.”

As work continues and repairs are completed, Delta Downs will provide further information about when horses will be allowed to be stabled on the backside, when the track plans to begin its season, and the new schedule for live racing. This information will be posted to the Delta Downs website at www.deltadownsracing.com.

Delta Downs Racetrack Casino Hotel, a property of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD), features exciting casino action, live horse racing and fun dining experiences. Delta Downs is located in Vinton, Louisiana on Delta Downs Drive. From Lake Charles, take Exit 7 and from Texas, take Exit 4.

Delta Downs Looks to Open Delayed Meet in Late November

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Stabling and tracking could begin by late October.

Delta Downs, which postponed its race meet when damaged by Hurricane Laura, could begin racing in late November, according to a company spokesman. Delta had been scheduled for its regular Thoroughbred season for 84 days from Oct. 6-Feb. 27.

Track officials are hoping to open its backstretch for training by late October, said David Strow, the vice president of corporate communications for Boyd Gaming, the track owner.

Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm, brought devastating winds causing damage or destruction to barns, the backside dining room, the track toteboard, its data/computer room, and its safety rail and starting gate, Strow said.

“The damage was fairly extensive. The good news is we are making great progress in our repairs, and we’re confident we can have the horses return in late October,” he said.

Boyd is working with the Louisiana State Racing Commission to extend the meet beyond its originally planned ending, though specific dates and the length of the season are still to be determined, according to Strow.

Delta Downs reopened its casino Sept. 16.

For more, Read BloodHorse Article

Louisiana Judge to Rule Friday on Fair Grounds Emergency Stabling

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By T. D. Thornton

A temporary restraining order issued Sep. 4 has blocked a Louisiana State Racing Commission (LSRC) mandate from taking effect that seeks to force the Fair Grounds to open its backstretch stabling to as many as 500 Thoroughbreds displaced by Hurricane Laura in the last week of August. An Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge is now expected to rule on the injunction after a Sep. 11 hearing.

The news site Crescent City Sports first reported on the 57-page request for injunction filed by attorneys for the Fair Grounds, which is owned by the gaming corporation Churchill Downs, Inc. The filing stated that the LSRC “does not have the legal authority to issue the mandatory injunction” and that “issuing such an order constitutes an unconstitutional taking and violates Fair Grounds’ constitutional rights to due process.”

After the Aug. 27 hurricane wrecked infrastructure at Delta Downs, the racino announced that its property would close to assess and repair damage. The Oct. 6-Feb. 27 meet could be delayed or abbreviated.

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LA Horsemen Plea to Commission for Emergency Stabling

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By T. D. Thornton

In the aftermath of Hurricane Laura that devastated structures at Delta Downs last week, the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (LHBPA) made a written plea to the Louisiana State Racing Commission (LSRC) Sept. 2 asking for an emergency order to be handed down that would mandate “immediate access to stalls to stable at both Louisiana Downs and Fair Grounds.”

The request for stabling involves both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, and is complicated by meets for both breeds ending and starting within the same rough time frame at Louisiana’s four tracks. Additionally, the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic is making movement of people and horses difficult.

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Louisiana Horsemen Assess Storm Damage

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Louisiana horsemen were spending the morning of Aug. 27 checking in on one another and assessing any damage after Hurricane Laura battered the state’s coastline overnight.

Karl Broberg, who has finished as the leading trainer by wins in North America multiple times, said his farm near Delta Downs in Vinton, La., sustained heavy damage but no workers or horses were injured. He said there was significant flooding, but the turned-out horses were fine on higher ground.

“It’s draining pretty fast, but there’s still about a foot of water on some parts of the property,” Broberg said. “There’s extensive damage, but all things considered, we’re alright. It just seems that we’re seeing more and more of these powerful hurricanes.”

According to multiple news outlets, the hurricane was listed as a Category 4 storm as it reached landfall near Lake Charles, La., and as of 9:30 a.m. Aug. 27 a number of news sites said the storm was still at Category 2 level as it traveled inland.

Read BloodHorse Article

Delta Downs Suffers Serious Damage in Hurricane, Opening to be Postponed

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By Bill Finley

While no horses or people suffered major injuries as a result of Hurricane Laura, the storm produced serious damage to Delta Downs in Vinton, Louisiana, leaving the facility in such bad shape that its director of racing operations Chris Warren said there was no chance the track would be able to begin its Thoroughbred meet on time.

“This meet is supposed to start Oct. 6. That isn’t going to happen,” Warren said. “There’s no way. When it will happen, I have no idea.”

“There’s debris and sheet metal everywhere,” he said. “The tote board got demolished. It collapsed and is completely gone. Our camera towers are gone, so is our holding barn. The starting gates got completely turned over and the light poles are torn up. The whole backside rail is pretty much ruined. There’s just a lot of damage and it is everywhere.”

Read TDN Article

LTBA Office Open with Limited Service

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The LTBA office is open today, August 25, 2020. However, with Hurricane Laura looming in the Gulf of Mexico, our computers remain out of service in order to protect the breeders’ data.

LTBA Executive Director Roger Heitzmann is in the office today to take care of any business that can be handled strictly by phone. He is monitoring the weather situation and plans to re-install computer operations as soon as he can be confident that Hurricane Laura is no longer a threat. All computers are backed up and the servers are in secure locations. With the unpredictability of hurricanes, the LTBA believes it is in everyones best interest to keep the computers offline at this time.

While Hurricane Marco has been thankfully downgraded, we encourage all to keep your guard up and continue to prepare for Hurricane Laura which is currently predicted to make landfall on the Texas/Louisiana border as a Category 2 or 3 hurricane. This can still have serious weather hazards all across the state.

The LTBA will update our status as conditions change. Thank you for your patience, and continued prayers for the safety of our members.

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