Remington Park's wind damage should not affect opening day

Remington Park in Oklahoma City was hit Monday night by high winds that did damage to some of the track’s grandstand facilities and barns less than two weeks before the meet is to open. But there were no injuries as a result of the “straight-line winds of 80-plus miles an hour,” and the season will start as scheduled on Aug. 18, said Scott Wells, the president and general manager of Remington.

Remington, which has a casino, was able to continue operations Monday night via generators. Wells said the track had no operational issues Tuesday. He added that Remington was working quickly to make repairs caused by what one horseman called a “mini-tornado.”

“It did some damage to the roofs of four barns, but only two were seriously damaged,” Wells said. “It shattered some glass in an elevator shaft and it readjusted all our track lights. It also took some trees down and so forth.

“It wasn’t so bad.”

Wells said he was relieved that Remington’s new, 50-foot high video board sustained no damage as a result of the winds.