Dispute Over Safety of New Lights Keeps Delta Dark at Night

Strenuous safety-related objections from Delta Downs jockeys about the allegedly inconsistent lighting from a new system that has been installed and tweaked over the course of several months kept the Louisiana State Racing Commission (LSRC) from approving a return to night racing when regulators met for an emergency session to address that one item Monday morning.

Mindy Coleman, an attorney representing The Jockeys' Guild, told commissioners on the Dec. 13 Zoom call that while the Delta-based riders recognize and appreciate the efforts track management has made to try to improve the situation, “there are still some grave concerns” with the recently installed light-emitting diode (LED) system, which was necessitated by the old lights getting wrecked by a hurricane in August 2020.

“It's not the amount of lighting per se. It's more inconsistencies with the distribution of the lighting, and the various shadows and the hot spots on the racetrack,” Coleman said.

Steve Kuypers, Delta's vice president and general manager, disagreed. He said that since the  jockeys first aired their concerns before the LSRC Oct. 26, a lighting contractor has added lower support brackets to 36 poles and attached 64 new light fixtures. These additional lights, in conjunction with the ones installed earlier in the process, have since been re-aimed to improve coverage.

And, Kuypers said, Delta also hired a “highly recognized specialist,” John Stewart, the president of a Kentucky-based entertainment venue design firm, who further offered lighting advice that was implemented Dec. 1.

Kuypers said management, horsemen, and jockeys then walked the track with Stewart while the lights were turned on Dec. 2. He said Delta executives came away from that meeting with the belief that all parties felt the problems had been acceptably rectified.

Kuypers referenced a report Stewart had written that proclaimed the new Delta lights to be “tremendously better than the pre-hurricane lighting.” Kuypers said Stewart also noted in his report that the only track in the nation with a better lighting system was Churchill Downs.

Kuypers also added that “Delta Downs has turned on all the lights and the jockeys [have been training in the pre-dawn hours] without complaint or incident.”

But jockey Ty Kennedy said morning training under the lights isn't the same as night racing in a 10-horse field.

“Yes, we do train under these lights every morning. However, breezing a horse by yourself is a lot different than riding in a race with nine other horses,” Kennedy said.

The first version of Delta's new lighting system was only operational for three races on the first night program of the season Oct. 15 before a horse fell at the top of the stretch.

Fueled by complaints from some jockeys and trainers that areas on the turns were dangerously dark and shadowy, the remainder of that card and the Oct. 16 program were cancelled. Delta, a longtime night-racing fixture, has raced only afternoons since then.

“We haven't seen shadows like these at any other [night] racetrack,” Kennedy said. “These shadows are very inconsistent, and we feel that they can potentially create hazardous situations.”

Jockey Gerard Melancon told commissioners he's walked Delta's track with 20+ riders on several occasions during various stages of the project. He explained that the consensus view among jockeys is that “from the get-go, the lighting wasn't put up high enough…. The lower the lights are, the more it causes shadows.”

Coleman disputed allegations that the jockeys are citing safety concerns because they just don't want to go back to night racing, period. Delta hasn't raced nights since February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first halted racing. Then the hurricane hit six months later, wiping out the old lights.

Delta management has expressed a belief that a blend of two afternoons and two nights per week is the ideal schedule right now to maximize handle, and the hybrid plan for the current meet was supposed to be Wednesday and Thursday cards at 12:55 p.m. (Central) and Friday and Saturday programs under the lights at 5:55 p.m.

Jockey Tim Thornton also disputed that notion.

“We want to make money,” he said. “If the lights were completely fine, we'd run at two o'clock in the morning. I know that the handle is a big issue. [But] we don't feel that our safety should be in jeopardy because of the handle going down.”

Benard Chatters, the president of the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, has maintained since October that the lights are fine and that his organization wants to go back to night racing.

“I think we have a fabulous lighting system here,” Chatters said.

At a later point, Chatters stated that the Guild's position regarding safety doesn't apply to all Delta-based riders. He offered the analogy that just because some people don't feel safe driving a vehicle at night, that doesn't mean we shut down the entire interstate highway system. The way he sees it, jockeys have a personal choice whether they want to ride or not at night.

“I guarantee there are going to be people who are willing to ride, and that's the reality of this situation,” Chatters said.

Commissioner Tom Calvert wanted to know if any of the jockeys who testified would go on the record as saying the situation was so unsafe that they wouldn't ride at all under the present lights. “Or,” he postulated, “are we in search of optimization, I guess is my question.”

Coleman voiced an opinion that individual riders could answer that question if they wanted to. But she also stated that it could be dangerous for jockeys–either in terms of retaliation or intimidation–if they didn't address the situation by one unified vote as a riding colony.

Kennedy answered the commissioner's question anyway.

“We've had several votes in the room, and it's always been unanimously 'no,'” he said, meaning that riders as a group would not ride at night under the current lighting. Thornton seconded that opinion.

Commissioner Eddie Delahoussaye, a retired Hall-of-Fame jockey, urged fellow commissioners not to vote for allowing Delta to resume night racing until they felt safety was 100% assured.

“We can't agree on okaying this if the lighting system's not safe for these riders,” Delahoussaye said. “Somebody goes and gets killed–I don't want that on my head.”

The LSRC ended up ruling by unanimous voice vote to extend Delta's permission to race days instead of nights for another 30-day period, with the stipulation that both sides can come back to the commission for an expedited re-vote if they reach consensus on the safety of the lighting system before the next commission meeting occurs.