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

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.”

Warren was on the scene at Delta Thursday morning and reports that the damage was extensive.

“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.”

Hurricane Laura made landfall at about 1 a.m. Thursday near Cameron, Louisiana about 30 miles south of Delta Downs, which is located in the town of Vinton. Winds were recorded at more than 150 miles per hour.

Delta Downs ended its quarter horse meet Saturday, but hundreds of horses and workers were still on the grounds when Laura hit. A mandatory evacuation order, which also covered horses, was issued for Vinton effective Tuesday. Warren said there were a number of workers who remained on the backstretch because they had nowhere else to go and that about 600 quarter horses were also on the grounds when the hurricane hit.

Management was prepared for the worst.

“Everyone was told to leave but they didn’t,” he said. “There were people who had nowhere to go. It could have definitely been worse. We could have had 20 horses and two people get killed back there. We were amazed that it wasn’t worse.”

Warren said a key to keeping the horses safe was that the barns held up relatively well and none of the barn roofs blew off.

Warren said that Evangeline Downs, which, like Delta, is owned by Boyd Gaming, did not suffer any serious damage. It is east of Delta in the town of Opelousas. Evangeline had canceled its Wednesday and Thursday cards before the hurricane hit. Evangeline is still scheduled to resume racing Friday night. Its meet ends Saturday.

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CHRB to Seek DQ of Justify from 2018 SA Derby

The win by scopolamine-positive Justify in the 2018 running of the GI Santa Anita Derby is now going to come under official administrative scrutiny by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). But Bob Baffert, the trainer of the eventual undefeated Triple Crown winner, will not have a CHRB complaint lodged against him “due to substantial evidence that the scopolamine resulted from environmental contamination from jimson weed,” the CHRB stated in a Wednesday press release.

As part of a negotiated settlement stemming from a lawsuit filed against the CHRB by the owner/trainer of Bolt d’Oro, the runner-up horse in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, the CHRB voted during a closed session Aug. 20 to reverse its previous course of no action and to proceed with a complaint seeking the disqualification of Justify and the redistribution of the purse from that stakes.

The CHRB has set a Sep. 20 stewards’ hearing date at Santa Anita Park to begin the complaint adjudication process. Left unanswered at this point–and possibly unanswerable at all–is what might happen to Justify’s subsequent Triple Crown race victories if Justify gets DQ’d from the Santa Anita Derby. Had Justify not finished among the top two finishers in that GI Kentucky Derby points-qualifying race at Santa Anita Apr. 7, 2018, he would not have made the cutoff for entry into the Kentucky Derby. And if he doesn’t get to enter and win the Derby, he certainly wouldn’t have been in the running for the Triple Crown. With regard to that question of eligibility, CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten wrote in an email: “In California, eligibility is determined at the time of the race. In this case, however, the [Kentucky Horse Racing Commission] would be in the best position to make [any Kentucky Derby eligibility] determination. The CHRB is not seeking any disqualification beyond the Santa Anita Derby.”

Darrell Vienna, the attorney for plaintiff Mick Ruis (Ruis Racing LLC), told TDN that he is pleased with the CHRB’s executive session vote to move ahead with a hearing. He added that seeking punishment for Baffert or having Justify stripped of his status as a Triple Crown winner was never the intent of his client’s litigation.

“This is what we’ve been fighting for,” Vienna said. “We had never sought to have [the CHRB] file a complaint against Mr. Baffert for anything. We just weren’t privy to those facts.

What we were privy to is the fact that the horse tested positive for a Class 3/Penalty B substance, which requires automatic disqualification.”

Vienna has consistently cited CHRB rule 1859.5, which requires forfeiture of the purse and disqualification of a horse that tests positive for a class 1-3 prohibited substance regardless of the trainer’s responsibility.

“The key terms [of the settlement agreement] were simply that there would be a complaint filed and a hearing with regard to the potential forfeiture and disqualification of the winner,” Vienna said. “All we were ever asking for was a hearing. We weren’t asking for an outcome. We were asking for a process.”

TDN reached Baffert on his mobile phone Wednesday, but he didn’t want to speak about the CHRB’s decision, deferring to his attorney for comment.

“Craig Robertson III, the lawyer who represents Baffert, said “We’re very disappointed and surprised at the action that the CHRB is taking. We don’t think that it has any legal basis whatsoever, and we intend on fully fighting it. We’re contemplating those options right now. There are a number of different avenues that could be pursued, including the courts. But we haven’t made a final decision in terms of which avenue we’re going to pursue.”

Although Justify has been the focal point of the case since the story of his post-race positive test (and the CHRB’s alleged dragging-out over how to handle the results) belatedly broke in September 2019, another Baffert trainee, Hoppertunity, is also going to be the subject of a CHRB hearing over his own scopolamine positive.

“The CHRB is seeking the disqualification of Hoppertunity, winner of the [GIII] Tokyo City Cup S. at Santa Anita on April 8, 2018, and the redistribution of that purse based on laboratory findings that his post-race sample for that race tested positive for scopolamine,” the CHRB release stated. “While not the subject of current litigation, this medication positive was similar to the one involving Justify.”

Baffert has consistently denied that he has ever intentionally administered scopolamine to any of his horses.

A CHRB supporting document emailed to TDN by Marten stated: “The decision to file a complaint against a trainer for a medication positive is discretionary for the CHRB…In certain instances, where environmental contamination occurred, the CHRB has chosen not to file such complaints. Examples of medications often associated with environmental contamination where the CHRB has elected not to file trainer complaints are scopolamine and zilpatero..”

“We determined that the cause of the positives in the Justify and Hoppertunity matters were environmental contamination,” the release continued. “In the last few months, the CHRB did file several trainer complaints alleging scopolamine positives in post-race samples, but recommended, and the stewards issued, warnings based on those violations. Given that the Justify and Hoppertunity positives occurred over two years ago and at most the CHRB would only seek a warning, the CHRB chooses not to file complaints against Mr. Baffert in these matters.”

TDN asked Marten to clarify whether the CHRB’s executive-session votes on these matters were unanimous. He replied via email that “Any action by the Board in closed session requires at least four approvals. As for the breakdown of the voting among the six commissioners, we will need to check with counsel to determine whether that is public information.”

TDN also wanted to know if the CHRB would have undertaken a review of the Justify case had it not been for the pending litigation. Marten wrote back that “The CHRB cannot speculate on a hypothetical question about what the commissioners might have done.”

On July 24, when news broke that Ruis reached an agreement in principle with the CHRB regarding a settlement of his pending litigation in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Vienna told TDN that the agreement would be “in exchange for the dismissal of the entire litigation,” including any possible damages.

Court records indicate that on Aug. 4, both parties jointly petitioned the court to have an upcoming Sep. 4 hearing continued to a future date “because the parties are currently engaged in settlement negotiations.” That request was granted, and the judge in the case set the next court date for Feb. 5, 2021.

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Caracaro Continues Kentucky Derby Preparations

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With a mix of optimism and respect, trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son and assistant, Gustavo Delgado Jr., have gone about their primary task of the summer: preparing Caracaro (Uncle Mo) of the GI Kentucky Derby.

The Delgados are based in South Florida at Gulfstream Park West, but brought Caracaro to Saratoga Race Course in July with the goal of earning enough qualifying points to make the 20-horse Derby. Following second-place finishes in the GIII Peter Pan S. July 16 and the Aug. 8 GI Travers S., a colt who was injured in the winter and away from the races for about six months, is 10th on the Derby leaderboard at 60 points.

With the mission accomplished of just getting a position in the Derby field, the Delgados face the challenge of tangling once again with Tiz the Law (Constitution), the GI Belmont S. winner and likely Derby favorite. At the very least, they know Tiz the Law rather well. Caracaro was second to him in the Travers–5 1/2 lengths behind the New York-bred who was throttled-down in the stretch–and they have seen him in training over Saratoga’s main track. Without question, Tiz the Law’s Travers left them realistic about the test facing them at Churchill Down Sept. 5.

“The last race showed who the real horse was,” said Delgado, Jr., who often serves as the barn’s spokesman. “The races before he was just winning, but the last one was impressive.”

Delgado said that jockey Manny Franco had Tiz the Law “cantering to the line” in the Travers, which turned out to be the fifth-fastest time in the history of the race.

“Before, we all thought he’s a good horse,” Delgado Jr. said. “Now we’re talking about something else, like a real good one, in my opinion.”

A moment later, he agreed with the suggestion that Tiz the Law might even be a great horse.

Delgado Jr. said that Caracaro, co-owned by Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing, belongs in the Derby and that his connections see him as a contender. The colt ran second in his debut at Gulfstream Park Dec. 8 then broke his maiden by six lengths Jan. 11. There were offers to buy him as a Derby prospect after the victory, but he had to be taken out of training when a vet exam revealed an issue in his rear end. The Peter Pan was his return to competition and he was quite game despite the lengthy layoff, battling with Country Grammer (Tonalist) in the stretch before finishing second by a neck. While never a threat to win the Travers, he finished well after a wide trip. Delgado Jr. said a top-four finish in the Derby with jockey Javier Castellano is realistic and that from what he and his father can see the colt is still developing.

“This is the third time off the layoff and they usually run well the third, the fourth time. If he keeps improving he’s going to be tough,” he said. “Obviously, Tiz the Law is the main guy. If he doesn’t show up for any reason, we might be ready.”

In Delgado Jr.’s assessment, Caracaro sits in a group of five or six capable Derby horses behind Tiz the Law. Caracaro worked five furlongs in 1:01.02 Saturday over the wet main track at Saratoga and will have his final breeze this weekend before shipping to Kentucky.

“He is a good horse. Just the other one is better than him now,” Delgado Jr. said. “You pull out Tiz the Law, I tell you, I am not afraid of any of the others. It’s the Derby. Twenty horses. We’ve seen it before.”

Caracaro has thrived with his training and racing in Saratoga, Delgado Jr. said, providing some perspective.

“He’s getting fitter, lighter. He had too much weight that he is losing progressively in a good way. He’s more fit. He’s more tight. Before the Peter Pan, you could tell in the paddock he was like this,” Delgado said, spreading his arms to illustrate width. “He looked way fatter than the other horses. He didn’t look fit in the Peter Pan.

He continued, “You realize that once you are in the paddock and you can turn to the other horses. Sometimes when you see them train, you see them every day, you don’t notice the difference. But once you are in the paddock and you look and compare them to the other ones, you are like, ‘Oh, he’s a little chubby.'”

Though Delgado Jr. was clear that Tiz the Law is the horse to beat in the Derby, he pointed to the reality that there are no guarantees in the sport.

“There is still a lot of time. They have a plane to catch,” he said. “Trust me, the pressure is on them. They have the best horse in the race. The pressure is on them.”

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MJC President Sal Sinatra Talks Cleaning Up Racing On TDN Writers’ Room

In a sport crying out for more strict, no-nonsense regulators and administrators, Maryland Jockey Club president Sal Sinatra fits the bill. Just in the past week and a half, Sinatra has made major waves in the industry, first by calling for the eventual end to claiming races at The Jockey Club Round Table and then by busting Wayne Potts for “paper training” for a banned trainer in Maryland. Wednesday, Sinatra joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss an array of issues plaguing racing and the steps, big and small, that can be taken to clean up the game for good.

“When I see forged health certificates, when I have repeated claims for not paying bills, when there’s theft, when I’m watching horses race and return and run under others’ names, [situations] that everybody’s aware of, action should’ve been before it gets to my desk,” Sinatra said of the challenges he faces as a head regulator. “Unfortunately, since I’ve been in Maryland, [Potts] is the sixth person I’ve actually tossed. And I don’t know why I seem to be the only one doing it.”

Sinatra went on to say that one of the reasons cheating trainers aren’t more severely punished is that they fill races, a byproduct of there being too much racing on the whole in America and specifically too much cheap claiming races.

“Coming from the racing secretary side, we’ve got too many races,” he said. “Most of these [cheating] guys run their horses a lot. They help you when you call them. So they’re kind of racing office favorites, and the gray area becomes not so gray when you need the horse to make six or seven to fill the entries and close.”

Sinatra added that while racing is making strides in certain areas of correcting itself, there remains one more basic long-term problem it hasn’t addressed: the morality of its participants.

“We’re all trying to make a living. We’re trying to be proud. We’re trying to clean our image as best as we can,” he said. “We have to make ourselves look better. We’re trying with the breakdowns. We’re trying with the medications. But there’s a character flaw. There has become a real character issue. There’s people in the game right now that–I hate to say it–but they shouldn’t be around animals, let alone horses.”

Sinatra caused a stir when he suggested at the Round Table that America should move toward a future without claiming races. He expounded on how a transition to that future could look.

“For one, we have too many categories for horses to enter into,” he said. “You got non-two, non-three, non-four, one win in six months, two wins in six months. I think a ratings system reduces that, so if you put two horses at a rating of 80, maybe a horse that only has three wins runs against a horse with nine wins. You could hypothetically replace starter allowances with these ratings races. There may be a way of combining claiming and letting people who don’t want to lose their horse run their horse against like horses.”

Sinatra further lamented the lack of growth in the worth of claimers over the years, despite inflation and higher purses, leading inevitably to animal welfare issues.

“We’ve created this arena, and especially with the [revenue from] slots, we never valued the horse part of it. When I worked at Monmouth in the mid-80s, the last race was always a Jersey-bred nickel [claimer]. And today the bottom is a Jersey-bred nickel. We’re talking 35 years later. That horse has to be worth a little more than that. But we keep it low so people can get in the game, and then the poor horse gets chewed up. We have to fix it.”

Sinatra said that a lot of racing’s ills come back to the core issue that has been discussed at length on the Writers’ Room in the past: an oversupply of races that exists despite the realities of declining foal crops and horses who run less frequently overall.

“A lot of things got broken down over time because we have too much racing, there’s too many opportunities and we’re trying to fill all this stuff with no supply,” he said. “That’s really the biggest problem. A horse used to run eight or nine times a year. And you have the same amount of stalls that aren’t filled as much. You do the math. Most of the tracks now are propped up by slot machines. Companies can afford to lose $5-10 million on racing when they’re printing money across the parking lot. It’s not good for our sport. So we need to clean it up. We need to look at the whole model and reboot or it’s going to go away.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers recapped the weekend’s Grade I action and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, applauded Churchill Downs for making the decision to race without spectators for the GI Kentucky Derby and broke down the Karl Broberg situation at Remington. Click here to watch the podcast, click here for the audio-only version.

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