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What Americans once called the sport of kings has evolved into a study in anarchy in which the law of the jungle is the name of the game.
With predators lurking on every side, on Dec. 29, 1995, Delaware Park resorted to what now is considered to be the ultimate weapon in the fight for survival of the fittest.
Delaware Park armed itself with slot machines.
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Since then business has been booming, and the subsidy from the slots has not only kept thoroughbred racing alive but also has enabled horsemen to thrive. Though Delaware's on-track betting on live races averaged a meager $206,151 last year, the track's purses more than doubled, reaching the neighborhood of $155,000 a day.
Faced with riverboat casino competition that has cut their revenues by an estimated 40 percent, Illinois tracks are envious. They are trying to persuade the General Assembly and Gov. Jim Edgar to allow them to install slot machines in hopes of sending purses skyrocketing and thereby elevating the declining quality of their racing product.
At Delaware Park, the 1,000 slot machines in a posh casino setting on the grandstand's second floor are a billion-dollar business serving as a protective shield for the racing game.
From Dec. 29, 1995, through Dec. 31, 1996, these are the slot machines' vital statistics:
- $1,408,951,600 bet.
- $1,297,746,200 won by bettors.
- $111,205,400 net proceeds divided by the track, the state of Delaware, vendors and horsemen.
Net proceeds represent 92.5 percent of the total wagered, and the formula for the splits is part of the law that permitted Delaware Park and the state's two harness tracks, Dover Downs and Harrington, to install the machines.
The horsemen's cut of approximately 11 percent is dwarfed by the track's 51.5 percent. The state takes about 25 percent, and approximately 12.5 goes toward leasing the slots and operating the central computer.
Owners and trainers have no complaints--except those who fear they won't be able to compete because of the increasingly higher horsepower coming back to the tradition-rich track that fell on hard times.
'The slot machines have had a big impact,' said trainer Cynthia Bayley, who came from Ohio. 'You see better horses and better trainers. Some people don't like this. They want to preserve the status quo and don't want to compete this hard. Those who don't get with it will fall by the wayside.'
The ever-increasing purses are luring some of the biggest names in racing. The day after the Preakness a 3-year-old named Twin Spires, who was purchased as a yearling for $700,000 by trainer Wayne Lukas on behalf of owners Bob and Beverly Lewis, showed up to run in a $26,000 allowance race. Earlier in the meeting, Lukas sent in Leestown to win the Bob Jackson Memorial, a $40,000-added overnight stakes race for 3-year-olds.
Delaware Park Chairman William Rickman and his son, William Jr., president and chief operating officer, are putting the majority of the purse money into the daily races.
During this year's 139-program meeting, which began April 5 and will continue through Nov. 9, there are 26 overnight stakes with purses ranging from $35,000-added to $40,000-added as compared with 24 major stakes with purses of from $50,000 to $350,000 for Saturday's Delaware Handicap.
'Two years ago I was taking $3,500, $5,000 and $7,000 horses,' said trainer Harland Sanders, who has been at Delaware Park 'through the good and lean years and all the in-between years.
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'When I saw the slot machines were coming, I had a discussion with my owners and I started to upgrade. Now my operation is geared toward taking $12,000, $25,000 and $30,000 horses. I'm hoping this reinvestment cycle at Delaware will give me enough nice horses by winter so that I'll be able to start going to Gulfstream Park.'
Sanders' memories of Delaware Park date back almost 50 years.
'In the '50s it was fantastic,' he said. 'This was a glorious place, a Saratoga. Cars would be bumper-to-bumper coming in here.'
Delaware Park was designed by William DuPont Jr., one of its five founders, and opened June 26, 1937, for a 30-day meeting. By 1952 attendance for its May 29-July 5 summer meeting had climbed to a daily average of 15,583.
Howevever, in the 1970s, the track's site became a major detriment because of the tremendous expansion of racing dates at tracks in neighboring states. Delaware Park is only 30 miles from Philadelphia, 55 from Atlantic City, 60 from Baltimore and 132 from New York. The fan base eroded, and the quality of racing sank.
On Sept. 6, 1982, Delaware Park shut down, and it seemed that the onetime thoroughbred showcase was history. Then, in 1983, William Rickman Sr. bought the track, intending to use it as a training facility. But in the spring of 1984 he reopened the track, limiting racing to weekends, and in 1985 he began the concerted effort to revive Delaware Park.
In the early 1990s the competition for the gambling dollar grew more intense. Maryland introduced off-track betting; New Jersey's Garden State Park, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, began full-card simulcasting; and the casinos in Atlantic City added race books.
The Rickmans fought back by winning legislative approval to conduct full-card simulcasting. The result was a harbinger of what happened in Illinois when it was legalized two years ago--fans loved it, and their betting on live races decreased dramatically.
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Because of the fallout, the Rickmans intensified their efforts to add slot machines. 'It took us six years and three vetoes from two different governors,' said William Jr. 'When we finally got it legalized it was a compromise bill that passed without the governor's signature.'
Immediately, Delaware Park turned back into a gambling magnet attracting hordes of people from surrounding states.
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Not surprisingly, in their obsession with the slots, many of the new customers pay little or no attention to the horses.
'I originally came for a job interview,' said Stirling Sowerby, from Brookhaven, Pa. 'I decided, why not risk $20? I won. So I'm back.
'The horses? I have no clue.'
'I kind of like the horses, but I'm here with my girlfriends and they mostly play the slots so I'll stay with them, although I've noticed the money lasts longer with the horses,' said Joyce Brown of Newark, Del.
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On a typical Monday there was very little movement between the second-floor casino and either the simulcast centers or the racetrack's stands.
'We just like the horses,' said Les Ewen, who came from Millville, N.J., with his son, Ron. 'All winter we go to simulcasts in Jersey. It's a pleasure to come here and see live racing at such a nice old track. Once in a great while we'll go in and lose $10-$20 on the slots, but that's it.'
'I never play the slots, but I have nothing against bringing them in because they certainly revived this place,' said Mark Kauffman of Newark, Del. 'My heart lies in playing the horses--it's a mental crossword puzzle versus a no-brainer, just going in and pulling a handle. I bet the simulcasts a lot. I look for value, decent odds on a horse with a shot.'
The simulcasts remain an integral part of Delaware Park's attractiveness to horseplayers. The Arlington International Racecourse thoroughbred meeting and the Sportsman's Park harness meeting are among the 16 tracks sending their signals.
Meanwhile, the improved quality of Delaware Park's product because of the slot subsidies has triggered a 71 percent increase in the number of tracks taking its races and an increase of $44 million in out-of-state betting on them last year.
'Racing is not what it used to be, and it's never going to be what it used to be,' said William Rickman Jr. 'To be successful every track is going to have to be a multifaceted facility. We're an example of a good way of doing it.'