Delta Downs

Jockey Vicente Del Cid won his third overall riding title and his first since the 2023-24 season at the 76-day Delta Downs meeting which concluded Saturday. Allen Landry captured his second consecutive leading trainer title at the Louisiana oval and Endzone Athletics (Karl Broberg and Matt Johanson) won its 14th leading owner crown. Del Cid won 129 races from 449 mounts, which was 76 wins ahead of second-place rider Joel Dominguez. The Guatemalan native also set a new single-season record with total mount earnings of $3,109,245. He is the first...

The dual Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year from 2022 and 2024, Free Like a Girl (El Deal--Flashy Prize, by Flashy Bull), was euthanized after a recent trailer accident. The story was first reported on Tuesday, Jan. 13 by the Daily Racing Form. The all-time highest earner in the Pelican state's history with over $2.5-million, Free Like a Girl made 55 starts and got her picture taken on 21 occasions. The $5,500 Equine Sales of Louisiana Yearling Sale grad was owned by Gerald Bruno, Carl Deville, Jerry Caroom and Chasey Deville...

If you are looking to back a runner who can confidently operate under center, shoot the A-gap and get to the next level, streak like a gazelle along the sidelines and tip-toe ever so elegantly for the score, then look no further than Louisiana-bred Touchuponastar (Star Guitar), who took home his fourth Champions Day Classic Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday--the mark surpassed his stellar sire and moved him closer to $2-million in career earnings. The 6-year-old's ride for brothers Jake and Jeff Delhomme took them to new heights earlier...

Delta Downs decided to give horseplayers an unprecedented break last week. For their daytime cards on Tuesday and Wednesday, the track lowered the takeout in all pools to just 10%. While other tracks have experimented with lowering the takeout in some pools, never before had anyone decided to slash the take in all pools. By doing so, it looked like Delta would provide the industry with some much needed data. What effect would such a low takeout have on handle and how would the ADWs and the CAW players react?...

Named a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard,' after a sparkling second-out performance during the summer of Amoss at the Spa Sept. 1 when the colt scored by 5 3/4 lengths, Oscar's Hope (Twirling Candy) rolled into Delta Downs on low-takeout day for the Jean Lafitte Stakes Wednesday. The 2-year-old was bet down to 30 cents on the dollar here after finishing as the runner-up to fellow 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', Outfielder (Speightstown) in an allowance race at Keeneland Oct. 4 and as a last-out winner facing optional...

While several tracks have experimented with lowering the takeout, none has gone as far as what Delta Downs has planned for two daytime cards, Nov. 25-26. On those days, the takeout will be 10% on all wagers, in all pools. Some tracks have slashed the takeout on certain wagers and Hawthorne offered an industry low takeout at its 2025 meet of 12% on all win wagers. But never before has a track lowered takeout on all pools or to anything near 10%. "Our Director of Racing Ops John Simon came...

5. DYNAMITE TONIGHT, DED, 11/7, 5 furlongs (VIDEO). Beyer Speed Figure-82 (g, 2, by Independence Hall--Shop for Gold, by Speightstown) O-Roger Smith and Keiber Rengifo. B-DocAtty Stables (La). T-Sam Breaux. J-Elio Barrera. $127,000 OBSOPN; Consigned by Golden Rock Thoroughbreds. Having brought $127,000 in June at OBS--a decent price for a Louisiana-bred--he debuted by demolishing state-bred maidens by 8 3/4 lengths in solid time. His pedigree traces to Jack Dreyfus' old Hobeau Farm breeding operation, and New Iberia-based veteran Breaux, 71, has won 2,063 races and more than five dozen stakes....

It wasn't a perfect night for Paco Lopez Thursday night at Delta Downs as he was 0-for-2, finishing eighth with his first mount of the night and third in his second try. But, according to his agent, Jose Garcia, Lopez saw it as a positive night for the simple fact that he was back doing what he loves. "He was very happy to be back," Garcia said. "You have a rider who, basically, loves to ride horses." Lopez had not ridden since Sept. 22 at Parx. Afterward he was suspended...

State-bred and -sired programs in Louisiana, West Virginia and Maryland were in the spotlight over the weekend, and the while main events at Delta Downs, Charles Town Races and Laurel Park each featured heavily backed odds-on favorites, the results produced varying outcomes: A new track record, a double-digit-lengths blowout, and an upset of a Breeders' Cup-placed horse who had seemed like a cinch dropping down into restricted company. On Saturday at Delta Downs, Touchuponastar (Star Guitar) returned from a 4 1/2-month layoff in the co-featured $100,000 Gold Cup Stakes for...

Tuesday's immigration raid at Delta Downs--which resulted in the reported apprehension of 84 undocumented individuals--reminds industry stakeholders once again of a frustrating conundrum. On the one hand, they must navigate an environment of ramped-up immigration enforcement, and the potential that what happened at Delta Downs could happen at any other racetrack around the country. On the other, they face a long-broken system that makes sourcing legal immigrant workers a bureaucratic nightmare. "It's insanely difficult," said trainer Doug O'Neill, about a visa system that's necessary to properly staff the racetrack backstretch....

An immigration raid at Delta Downs racetrack Tuesday morning resulted in the apprehension of 84 undocumented individuals, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The surprise morning raid at Delta Downs—currently in the middle of a Quarter Horse meet—involved multiple law enforcement agencies including ICE, the U.S. Border Patrol, the Louisiana State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI. Those undocumented individuals taken into custody, said ICE, were processed for administrative immigration violations before being taken to the Lake Charles Border Patrol Station in...

Immigration enforcement officers raided the Delta Downs racetrack Tuesday morning in what has been described as a sweep of the backstretch, which had been closed off by the authorities. The raid, involving drones, was coordinated between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), state and local law enforcement agencies, according to several sources. In the latest development in an evolving situation, "several dozen individuals" have been detained at the track as part of the raid, said Eric Hamelback, CEO of the national Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA). Delta Downs' latest Thoroughbred...