CLAREMORE, Okla. — The Claremore community is championing the return of a popular attraction, just nine months after an EF-3 tornado.

2 New went to Will Rogers Downs where they’re kicking off their spring horse racing season.

“Well, we’re very excited because the rebuilding process has been a tough one. It’s been time-consuming,” said WRD track announcer John Lies.

While time-consuming, it was a time of recovery. Multiple areas at the historic site saw significant damage. This included the barns, grandstands and the casino area.

“So, most of the barns down on the lower side of the property adjacent to the highway needed to be either completely redone or renovated. So, that affected maybe half of the barns of our capacity here on the backside of over 600 stalls, and that took place in phases over the last 9 to 10 months,” Lies said.

In May of 2024, several horses were injured when the barns were hit by the tornado, and some had to be euthanized in the following weeks.

This challenged the trainers responsible for the horses and weighed heavily on the WRD leadership.

2 News has been there reporting on the downs since the night of the tornado.

Less than a year ago, they were counting their blessings.

“It was definitely; it was lucky for everybody,” trainer Cindy Dunlap said when taking care of her horses in 2024.

Now, 2 News is championing resilience as Will Rogers Downs is celebrating their return to full races.

“We have the capacity for over 600 horses, and we made stall assignments for just under 550, so that’s the horse population we’d be looking at. It’s a full house,” said Lies.

While WRD ran horses in the fall it was at limited capacity, due to repairs being made on the barns and other areas of the track.

Starting in March and going through mid-May they’ll be able to house and run the same amount of horses as they did before the tornado.

This is getting people around Claremore excited for the return of the sport.

OVERCOMING: Racing returns to Will Rogers Downs after tornado

Lies said as they begin races they’re holding onto Oklahoma’s community spirit they saw after the tornado.

“One thing I like is, that here there’s more of a sense of community. You saw that last year when the tornado, occurred,” said Lies. “There were trailers turned upside down and people that simply needed help, and these are trainers that normally compete against each other for prize money. Here it was everybody helping in and all of a sudden it was a very humanitarian effort.”

The spring races began on March 3 and will go on until May.

View the racing schedule here.

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