More than a month before Louisiana Downs began its 2022 thoroughbred meet, new owner Kevin Preston made an attention-grabbing revelation that provided a shot in the arm for horse racing fans – especially locals.
The Super Derby was back.
“It puts us back on the map,” said Preston, the President of Rubico Acquisition Corporation — the company that purchased Louisiana Downs Casino and Racetrack from Caesars Entertainment and VICI Properties for $22 million in November. “It shows that this new ownership group is serious about racing, and about bringing this track back to life.”
The Super Derby, established in 1980 and a former gem on the national scene, hasn’t left the gate since 2019.
Preston’s assertion was a smart move, but appears to be irresponsible at best, likely hollow and possibly deceitful.
Wednesday, just one month prior to the supposed Super Derby Day, Louisiana Downs sent a press release to selected people and organizations stating the 2022 Super Derby was off.
In the release, obtained from other outlets, Preston said, “While we were excited to potentially bring the Super Derby back …”
Potentially?
So, if we’re to believe the original statement, this shows Louisiana Downs fans and horsemen the new ownership is not “serious about racing.”
I’m not sure what to believe.
Was there ever a plan to run the Super Derby this year, or did Preston attempt to leverage the track’s calling card to cheaply drum up interest and goodwill prior to his first meet?
Other than Preston saying the Super Derby was back, there’s not much proof. For starters, the race is not listed on The National Stakes Conditions Book, the stakes schedule at Bloodhorse.com or the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA).
Plus, there was never a Super Derby Prelude on the books. In the past, the Prelude Stakes offered horsemen loyal to Louisiana Downs entry into the Super Derby. The race, roughly a month prior to the Super Derby, featured many local horses and trainers and offered the top few finishers a stakes purse and a free ticket into the track’s signature event.
Al Stall Jr. parlayed Apart’s Prelude win and a fees-paid berth for the big race into a Super Derby romp in 2010.
The only stakes events listed at Louisiana Downs in racing publications were the six races ($50,000 each) held on Louisiana Cup Day (Aug. 6).
So, a month before the race there were no details available. The track then spun the disappearance of the Super Derby as, “The race will return in 2023!” Again, no details, just a general statement and a smokescreen about Historical Horse Racing machines, pending off-track betting locations, and sportsbook revenue. Plus, a plan to place another 100 new slot machines on the casino floor, which will “increase slot revenue and further enhance the purse structure.”
Those HHRs are cool, I’m a huge fan of the sportsbook and OTBs (by the way, the Mound location was supposed to open long ago), but there is good reason to be leery.
I wonder if Downs officials realize the ramifications of the not-so-super Derby confusion. According to TOBA, the group that initiated the graded stakes process in 1973, the race was ineligible to be a graded event in 2022 and – even with a COVID exemption from 2020 — is likely ineligible to be a graded event (your chance to attract elite talent) in 2023.
“If a race is not run for two or more years or has not run in two of the last three years, it is ineligible for grading,” FOBA rules state. “Stakes races that are eligible for grading must appear in the track’s published (electronic and/or print) stakes book before the beginning of the meet with their run date and full conditions.”
Naturally, we’d love details straight from the horse’s mouth on why the Super Derby was void of full conditions and wasn’t on any calendar for 2022 despite a pledge otherwise. However, the folks in charge have repeatedly denied requests for basic information.
“We wanted to make sure people knew that we were serious, and that’s why we wanted to bring back the Super Derby,” Preston said in April. “We want to make sure it’s on people’s minds for years to come.”
What else has been promised and not delivered to local fans and horsemen?
Another freezing-cold take made by Preston early this season: “We may not be able to get (the track) back to its heyday in the ’80s, but we sure want to give it a shot.”
May not be able to? There is ZERO chance the 1980s are coming back to the Downs or any other horse track in the nation.
As the horse racing industry ran into tough times in the early 2000s, Louisiana Downs felt the squeeze.
For so many reasons, certainly not only because of the folks running the track, the crowds, purses and interest waned. One of the few things the Bossier City facility kept was the Super Derby.
Sure, it lost its Grade I status (the highest in the sport), and then its Grade II status, and then its Grade III status – now that was the track’s fault (a short-sighted move to the grass in 2017, under prior ownership). The purse tumbled from $1 million to $200,000.
But Louisiana Downs still had the Super Derby – the track’s undisputed calling card. Now, there is no chance the modern-day Alysheba is rolling into Bossier City.
The ’80s? Let’s start with a goal to get the track back among the top in the state of Louisiana.
Currently, a place like the Fair Grounds is Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont and LaDowns is aptly-named Sham.
Contact Roy at RoyLangIII@yahoo.com