Delta Downs Profile

No history of Delta Downs Racetrack in Vinton, Louisiana would be complete without a retelling of its most celebrated incident, one that reverberated throughout the entire industry: It is the legend of jockey Sylvester Carmouche.

One foggy night in the Louisiana Bayou, Carmouche found an ingenious means to win a one-mile horse race, by keeping his mount fresh and rested before jumping into the at the quarter-pole.

And so Carmouche jumped in but landed in jail instead for 10 days for tampering with a sporting event--felony theft by fraud--serving eight years of a 10-year suspension, courtesy of the Louisiana Racing Commission.

The jockey was found guilty of wrongdoing when it was discovered he used the prevailing dense fog to sneak away from the field in the post parade and, after hiding from view, emerged for the stretch run, finishing first with the fresh five-year-old.

Landing Officer, off at 23-1, was initially declared the winner of the 11^th race the night of January 11^th, 1990, but officials became suspicious when they realized the victory by the lower-class animal came within a tad more than a second from breaking the track record. Landing Officer finished 24 lengths in front.

So, upon further review … and sadly this was not the 31-year-old jockey’s last brush with the law.

Delta Downs is one of two tracks owned by Boyd Gaming, the second being Belterra Park in Cincinnati, OH. Like Belterra, Delta Downs also houses a casino operation, which turns out to be good fortune for both track, with a portion of the proceeds earmarked for purses.

It should be noted that Boyd Gaming has had a long-standing relationship with horseplayers. Its Orleans hotel in Las Vegas hosted the first national handicapping [link to handicappers guide] tournament in which the winner not only takes down significant prize money but also earns an Eclipse Award as Handicapper of the Year.

The track opened in September 1973 to hold Thoroughbred and Quarter-Horse race meets. In the 1990s, developer Shawn Scott bought the property for $10 million.

Soon thereafter slots were approved and not long after that, Scott sold the property to Boyd Gaming $100 million, the company investing a similar amount on capital improvements.

In 2005, Hurricane Rita wreaked havoc with the track, casino [link to BetOnline casino homepage], and hotel. Racing was suspended for six months for repairs. The track is what racetrackers call a bullring, a 6-furlong oval.

There is a Quarter-Horse chute of 550 yards in addition to two for Thoroughbreds, one a tad over six furlongs, the other a bit over a mile. The surface is a mixture of sand from a local river and clay with a limestone base. There are stables enough for 1,200 horses.

The track season normally extends from November to mid-July, the Thoroughbred meet concluding when the Quarters open their session in April.

Delta Downs Racetrack has used its casino dole wisely such that its biggest events have come into the national spotlight. Indeed, its winter Thoroughbred meet has produced several stakes-quality horses in recent years.

Gunnevera, Exaggerator and Goldencents are a few of the Delta Jackpot winners of the last decade. Hall of Famers Javier Castellano, Kent Desormeaux, Mike Smith, and Johnny Velazquez have ridden Jackpot winners. Hall of Famers trainers Steve Asmussen, Bill Mott and Mark Casse have done likewise.

Management was prescient enough to create two marquee events for juveniles, each with Grade 3 status: the $1-million Delta Jackpot Stakes and the $500,000 Delta Princess for the fillies. If some of the winning participants are any measure, it was money well spent.