Oak Grove, KY – Little Expensive shipped west from his home base on the East Coast and fired down the road to a 1:53 win in the $40,000 Open Trot on closing day Tuesday (July 15) of a record-breaking meeting at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel.
Leaving from post 5, driver Andy Miller hustled Little Expensive forward in a four-wide charge to the first turn. He cleared the lead from the three-wide path after a :26.1 first quarter to pocket DP Freedoms Chrome (driven by Tony Hall) moving past the grandstand for the first time. Railee Something (Joey Putnam), the 4-5 favorite, had to pull back from her four-wide bid to race fourth, but she soon angled outside to attack first up on the rim passing a :55.3 half.
Railee Something marched towards Little Expensive up the backstretch, though she levelled in her bid without even reaching the tempo-setter’s wheel. Little Expensive clocked three-quarters in 1:23.3 and held his ground through the turn and down the stretch as closers swooped in from both flanks. Amigo Volo (David Miller) slid through an inside seam for second, beaten three-quarter lengths, while Oh Look Magic (Devon Tharps) rallied down the wide side of the track for third and DP Freedoms Chrome gave chase in fourth.
Julie Miller trains Little Expensive, a 5-year-old gelding by Muscle Hill, for owners Andy Miller Stable Inc., Jean Goehlen and VIP Internet Stable LLC. He won his sixth race from 15 starts this season and his 13th from 48 starts in his career, good for $287,416 in earnings. He paid $7.42 to win.
Pioneer As (Tony Hall) sat a perfect pocket trip off fast early fractions before making a three-wide pounce in the last turn and staving off a late rally from Empire Builder (Geremy Bobbitt) to win the $24,000 Chad Stubbs Memorial Open 2 Trot in 1:54.2. The 6-year-old daughter of Devious Man collected her 17th victory from 70 starts and added to an account now worth $551,800 for owner-breeder ACL Stuteri AB.
Her win came in the middle of a training hat trick on the afternoon for trainer Anette Lorentzon, who won in the first race of the day with D’wood (Tony Hall, 1:56.4 winning mile; $8.56 to win) and late in the day with Justasiam As (Tony Hall, 1:54.4; $2.40).
Lil Joe Iii (Matt Krueger) upset in the final race of the meet, the $17,000 Freddie Patton Sr. Memorial, at odds of 21-1 when collaring 2-5 favorite Fox Valley Langley (Geremy Bobbitt) from a first-over grind in the closing strides of a 1:53.1 mile.
Oak Grove honored the lives of Stubbs and Patton Sr., two pivotal members of the Kentucky racing community who passed away this year, with a moment of silence during the racing card.
Erv Miller handily secured another training title at Oak Grove. His two victories on the day widened his lead of 35 victories to end the meet while Tony Dinges finished second with 24 wins. Ron Burke finished third with 21 wins while Wayne Oke and Carter Pinske tied for fourth with 20 wins each.
Marvin Luna held onto the driving title, which he nearly clinched in 2024 with a furious closing gambit before finishing second to Atlee Bender. This time around, Luna clung to the title with 43 victories as Atlee Bender worked to cut a six-win deficit on the closing-day card, but Bender hit a driving grand slam to cement his spot in second with 41 wins. Joey Putnam finished third in the driver’s standings with 36 wins while Todd McCarthy and Marcus Miller tied for fourth with 27 wins.
Oak Grove set record handle numbers in its 2025 season. The southern Kentucky track continues to post year-over-year gains in betting with the 2025 meeting handling $11.3 million from 37 race days, an increase from the $9.8 million handled from 35 race days in 2024 — a roughly 15 percent increase year over year. Handle in 2025 has increased just over 60 percent from 2023, which saw $7 million in handle — all a continued increase from when Oak Grove held its first meet in 2020 and handled just $1.2 million with just 14 race days.
Racing will return to Oak Grove in 2026. Please visit oakgrovinggaming.com for more information.