John Lies

Live Thoroughbred racing is scheduled to return at Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs Mar. 22 and will continue through May 26. The meet will include eight stakes races with six exclusively for accredited Oklahoma-Breds. Post time is 1:00 p.m. daily. "As one of only a few tracks running last spring, we are now very rehearsed in conducting a safe race meet under pandemic restrictions and CDC guidelines," said John Lies, racing secretary, announcer and oddsmaker at Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs. Stakes races begin Apr. 12 with the $50,000 guaranteed...

   Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma, one of the handful of North American racetracks that was able to continue racing throughout the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, concluded its meet May 20 with significant handle increases, as expected. More than $131 million was wagered in total (from 17 more races than in 2019) for a 687% increase over the $16.8 million bet the previous year. "Our racing shifted steadily toward center stage this spring. I am very proud that we were able to complete our season safely," said...