Will Rogers kicks off 29-date 2023 season
After a near three-month break, Thoroughbred racing returns to Oklahoma on Monday with the opening of Will Rogers Downs near Tulsa.
The track’s 29-date meet will run through May 17.
It’s the first meet for Thoroughbreds in the state since Dec. 17, when the season wrapped at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
Will Rogers will race Mondays and Tuesdays in March, then add Wednesdays to that lineup for April and May.
Opening day features 10 races, including three allowance offerings. One of those allowances drew Dicey, the co-horse of the meet last season at Will Rogers. She goes in the fourth race, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares that has a purse of $30,000.
Dicey won last year’s Miranda Diane Stakes at Will Rogers under Kylee Jordan, who will again be aboard Monday.
Jordan is one of a handful of Oaklawn-based riders who were named on horses Monday at Will Rogers. Her agent, Brian Assmann, said Friday that she will be riding at both meets as live dates between the tracks do not conflict. Jordan did so successfully last year, when as an apprentice she won the overall riding title at Will Rogers.
Assmann also represents veteran Alex Birzer, who will be based at Will Rogers. The jockey will be aboard Miss Melody in the same allowance as Dicey. The race is expected to produce starters for upcoming stakes at Will Rogers.
There are eight stakes scheduled for the season, and all of them will be run on either Mondays or Tuesdays. Of the stakes, six are restricted to horses bred in Oklahoma.
The stakes calendar opens March 27 with the running of the $55,000 Miranda Diane. It’s for Oklahoma-bred fillies and mares at six furlongs. Its counterpart for males runs March 28.
The open-company stakes on the calendar are the $50,000 Wilma Mankiller for fillies and mares at six furlongs on April 17 and the $50,000 Highland Ice for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs on April 18.
Will Rogers will run a stakes double for 3-year-olds bred in Oklahoma on May 8. There also will be a pair of Oklahoma-bred stakes for 3-year-olds and up at a mile on May 9.
The card Monday features three maiden special weight races, with open maidens running for a purse of $21,000. There are two Oklahoma-bred maiden special weights, and each is worth $25,200.
Scott Young, who won the training title last year at Will Rogers, will be active on the card Monday. Among his winners at the meet a year ago were Shannon C, who was named co-horse of the meet. The leading owner last season was Steve Williams, who has starters in eight races Monday.
Will Rogers handled an average $806,000 per card at the corresponding meet a year ago. The track’s total handle was up about $1 million from 2021.
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