84-day meet opens with higher purses

Delta Downs in Vinton, La., will ring in its new meet Wednesday night with elevated purses, full fields, and some notable new faces in the entries. The season will run for 84 dates through March 9.

The track has long been the home of the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot, but that race has been canceled for the second year in a row – due to Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and on the recommendation of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association in 2018.

The move will bolster overnight purses at Delta. Chris Warren, director of racing at Delta, said the season will launch with average daily

purses of $260,000. That’s up from the starting point of $225,000 at the same meet a year ago, with both figures including stakes. Warren said there were a couple of reasons for the bump.

“Slots money came in a little higher and so did [simulcasting],” he said.

Warren also noted that overnight purses received all of the money from the canceled Jackpot Day program, which had included the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess.

Delta’s stakes program will consist of 28 stakes worth a cumulative $2.2 million, with 18 of those races restricted to horses bred in Louisiana. The richest card of the season will be Louisiana Premier Night on Feb. 9. It features 10 stakes for statebreds – four of them starter stakes – for total purses of $895,000.

Entries were brisk for Wednesday night’s program of 10 races, with 115 horses passing through the box, including 16 also-eligibles. The maximum field size on the six-furlong oval at Delta is 10.

Robertino Diodoro, who with 205 wins through Tuesday ranks as 2018’s third-leading trainer in North America, will be based at Delta for the first time. He said he was granted 40 stalls. Karl Broberg, who leads all trainers in wins in North America with 418, will be chasing after his eighth straight Delta title.

Among riders, Diego Saenz – nine wins from 2,000 Thoroughbred victories in North America – is looking for his fifth straight Delta title. He faces Timothy Thornton, who won the title at Evangeline Downs, and Tommy Pompell, a new face at Delta. Danny Keene, who won the owner title at Evangeline, also will be new to Delta, sending a division to the track with private trainer Allen Milligan.

◗ Boyd Gaming, parent company of Delta and Evangeline, announced Monday it had completed acquisition of the operations of four properties from Pinnacle Entertainment, including Belterra Park in Ohio.