Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., which closed out its Thoroughbred meet May 15, was struck by a tornado Saturday night and officials are in the process of assessing the extent of damage to the property that includes a casino, according to a spokesman for the track located near Tulsa.
A National Weather Service representative said Sunday that survey teams are currently labeling the storm an EF-3 category based on damages, but added the survey was ongoing. The highest tornado rating is EF-5.
“The property was in the path of the tornado,” Travis Noland, a spokesman for Will Rogers Downs, said Sunday. “At the property itself, there is some pretty significant damage, but we’re really grateful from a life, safety respect, there were no reports of any serious injuries.”
Noland said there appears to be significant damage to the roof over the grandstand as well as damage to other "racing facility buildings."
Trainer Joe Offolter, the president of the Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma who regularly races at Will Rogers, said he believes there were about 200 horses on the grounds at the time of the storm, with “maybe 100" in the “south side” barns that endured the storm.
Will Rogers can house about 600 horses.
“I think the barns down below where the tornado went through, there were about 100 horses that were still there,” he said.
Offolter said barns where other horses were stabled, on the north and west sides, were not directly hit by the storm. Most horses have been moved to other locales, including Fair Meadows in Tulsa.
Offolter said he has heard one horse may have died due to the tornado, but added that he has yet to confirm that information.
“I haven’t heard of any injuries to people,” he said. “It sounds like we might have lost one horse so far, but I don’t know for sure. As bad as it was, I think it could have been worse as far as that kind of [situation].”
In May 2013, a tornado devastated Moore, Okla., directly hitting a training center that catered to both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. At the time, it was estimated approximately 75 horses in the area died in the tornado.
Will Rogers had two shelter areas that were available to those on property Saturday and to nearby campground area that was hit hard by the storm.
“We’re going to be temporarily closed while crews continue to work and clean up,” Noland said. “Most of the community is still without power and water.
“Our focus is on the community and making sure that the community has what it needs to get back together from a life, safety issue – power and water and all of those essential things.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.