Will Rogers Downs opens 30-date meet with higher purses

Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., will open a 30-date meet for Thoroughbreds on Monday with large fields, a purse increase, and a new racing secretary. The season runs through May 23.

Will Rogers Downs boosted overnight purses 10 percent before the first round of entries, bringing the projected distribution to $150,000 a program, according to John Lies, the track’s announcer, whose role has expanded to include racing secretary. Lies said Monday’s card has an average of 8.9 horses per race, and the program for Tuesday, 9.3.

“We have between 600 and 650 stalls, and we are nearly at capacity,” Lies said Thursday.

Will Rogers has scheduled six stakes for the meet worth a total of $320,000. The races will be showcased on Mondays or Tuesdays. Lies said the addition of a new stakes in May is being debated.

“We’re ticking around a stakes race for straight 3-year-olds at a distance of ground,” he said.

The first two Will Rogers stakes, a pair of open-company sprints at six furlongs, will be run April 4-5. Each race is worth $50,000. The remaining stakes are divisional races for Oklahoma-breds, with each worth $55,000.

Lies, 39, had been the voice of Lone Star Park near Dallas for the past decade but resigned to take on the role of announcer and racing secretary at Will Rogers and nearby Fair Meadows. Lies also will continue to announce for Kentucky Downs and serve as the simulcast host at Del Mar.

“I’m just very excited about the opportunity,” Lies said.

Lies, who for the past three years has been the announcer at Will Rogers, has experience working in the racing offices at Will Rogers and Del Mar. He takes over for Jesse Ullery, who vacated his racing-secretary position to move to Kentucky.

“Entries have gone fantastic, and that’s a credit to the horsemen’s participation and also to Jesse Ullery, who wrote the first condition book before he left,” said Lies.

Will Rogers will race Mondays through Wednesdays in March, then shift to Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays in April and May. First post will be 1:15 p.m. Central.

Lies said that in a new policy for this meet, there will be no coupled entries.

The leading trainer last year at Will Rogers was Roger Engel, and the leading rider was Bryan McNeil. There are a pair of allowance sprints serving as the co-features Monday.