Oak Grove, KY — The Independence Day (Tuesday, July 4) harness racing program at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming and Hotel will feature plenty of fireworks on the track. Eight early-season Kentucky Sire Stakes series will culminate with $100,000 finals on an 11-race docket featuring many of the sport’s highest-profile competitors and two horses — Mambacita and Arson — looking to cap series sweeps.

Mambacita has beem installed the 1-5 morning line favorite in the 3-year-old filly trot, carded as race eight, after winning both of her preliminary events by open lengths. The daughter of Tactical Landing-Bill’s Lady earned $496,161 as a rookie, capping her debut season with a runner-up effort behind Bond in the Goldsmith Maid. This season, she has won two of five starts, with both of those wins coming at Oak Grove, and finished fourth to Special Way in the June 2 New Jersey Sire Stakes final. Usual driver Yannick Gingras will again be in the bike behind Mambacita, who will start from post one in the seven-filly field, for trainer Tony Alagna, who sends a total of seven starters into the Sire Stakes finals.

The 2-year-old colt and gelding pace, carded as race three, features the other overwhelming favorite looking to sweep the series in Arson. The son of Captaintreacherous-Western Montana tore through his preliminaries in similar fashion, rallying from off the pace to win in 1:55.3 on debut before a gritty front-end score in 1:53.4 in round two. Anthony MacDonald will drive the 2-5 morning line favorite from the outermost post seven for trainer Eric Patalan and the partnership of Thestable Arson Group and Hutchison Harness LLC.

Preliminary runners-up Snap Count (David Miller, post three) and Tua Many Captains (Andy Miller, post one) are 5-1 and 6-1, respectively, on the early line.

Quite possibly, the 3-year-old colt and gelding pace, carded as race six, is the most contentious race on the card given the presence of all four preliminary winners. Command (Tim Tetrick, post three), by virtue of his 1:50 track record win on June 27, is the 2-1 favorite, while Admiral Hill (Dexter Dunn, post five), who ground to a 1:52 win in round one, has been made the 3-1 second choice. A Cool Moment (Joey Putnam, post one) and Caviart Donovan (Tyler Shehan, post six), by virtue of their preliminary upsets, are the next two early choices, at 9-2 and 5-1, respectively.

Among the top-name drivers converging upon Oak Grove for the rich card are Dexter Dunn, Yannick Gingras, Andy Miller, David Miller and Tim Tetrick.

On the wagering front, the 50-cent Super Hi-5, in race five, sports a $2,002.98 carryover; while the late Pick-5, which covers races 6-10 and includes three Sire Stakes finals, will see $1,103.82 of added money in the net pool. Full-card handicapping commentary from analyst Ray Cotolo, along with detailed trip notes from each horse’s past races at Oak Grove, are available at this link.

First post is 3 p.m. (CDT).