Louisiana Racing Commission, on a close vote, approves Evangeline Downs amended dates request

The Louisiana Racing Commission on Wednesday voted narrowly to approve an amended dates application for Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., that will have the track starting its rescheduled live race meet on June 5.

The commission’s chairman, Bob Wright, had to break a tie vote in order for the approval to go forward, as a handful of racing commissioners took issue with the racing dates requested by the track, citing the unwillingness of the track’s parent company, Boyd Gaming, to work with horsemen on issues related to stabling after the COVID-19 pandemic began leading to closures across the U.S. in mid-March.

Although the dates request was narrowly approved, several commissioners who cast “no” votes urged officials at Boyd Gaming to work together with the commission in the future on the possibility of revising the dates request. In addition, one of the commissioners who voted for the dates request, Judy Wagner, said on a conference call to conduct the vote that she would be open to modifying the racing calendar in the future.

“A lot of hard work went into this,” said Wagner, who also said a vote against the proposal would represent a setback to getting racing restarted in the state. “If there have to be changes put in place down the road, then so be it.”

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Mike McHalffey, a commissioner who ultimately voted no on the request after leading the charge against the proposal, said that Boyd should not be allowed to begin its meet until July, in order to allow Louisiana Downs to conduct its upcoming meet without an overlap between the two tracks.

“Boyd came late to the game to this,” McHalffey said. “Let’s give Louisiana Downs a chance to get started on the right foot.”

Two weeks ago, Louisiana Downs, located in Bossier City, received approval to reopen on June 6, racing on a Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday weekly schedule. The schedule approved for Evangeline Downs would have racing on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule through Aug. 29, for a total of 50 dates, with a minimum of eight races per day.

Ed Fenasci, the executive director of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said that horsemen did not object to the plans of both tracks to start racing in early June.

“Our membership is eager to get back to racing in the next month,” Fenasci said. When Fenasci was asked about the overlap in June cited by the commissioners who opposed Evangeline Downs’s proposal, he replied that pushing Evangeline’s meet back one month would only create a different overlap in September.

The vote came two days after Louisiana began allowing casinos in the state to reopen, at 25 percent occupancy and with 50 percent of the casino’s “gaming positions” open. Racetracks in Louisiana are heavily subsidized by casinos.

During the conference call, the racing commission also approved a 36-day Quarter Horse meet From June 10-Aug. 22 at Delta Downs, which is also owned by Boyd.