Oak Grove, KY – As all of the harness racing stars ready on their Grand Circuit paths through Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel with the inaugural Oak Grove Trotting Derby around the corner, gamblers continue to catch larger betting pools at the Southwest Kentucky track, which should create exciting betting opportunities with stakes action opening on Monday (April 27).
Through five weeks of racing in the 2026 meeting, Oak Grove gross handle is up 6.2 percent year over year with the track’s usual highlight day of wagering upcoming. Bettors have traditionally carried energy from the Kentucky Derby over to Oak Grove for the following Monday of racing, which has broken the handle record every year since 2023 (in 2022, the Tuesday after the Kentucky Derby broke the record). With betting pools still on the improve, bettors will also have the opportunity to wager on elite harness racing the Monday after the Kentucky Derby (May 4) with Kentucky Sire Stakes preliminaries scheduled as well as the eliminations for the inaugural Oak Grove Trotting Derby and Oak Grove Trotting Oaks, which will attract many of the sport’s best young trotting talent as they prime their campaigns towards the $1-million Hambletonian later in the year.
The Festival of Racing, opening on that Monday after the Kentucky Derby, continues with racing on Tuesday, May 5 and with a special day of racing on Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 10) featuring a day of Corgi Races for charity alongside a day of harness racing. The Festival culminates into Preakness Day (Saturday, May 16) with over $1.5 million in stakes racing starting at 12:45 p.m. (CDT) and wrapping with a concert from country music star Jake Owens after the races.
Atlee Bender claimed top driving honors on the week after a five-pack of wins on the Tuesday card. Bender, the leading driver at Oak Grove in 2023 and 2024, vaulted to the top of the driving standings with seven victories total on the week. Ronnie Wrenn Jr., after a driving hat trick on Monday, holds second on the standings while Brandon Bates sits third with a pair of wins on the week. Geremy Bobbitt, fifth in the standings, and Joey Putnam, sixth in the standings, also doubled on the week.
Top training honors went by a six-way tie to Ron Burke, Erv Miller, Rodney Debeck, Justin Lloyd, Joe Putnam and Robert Laffoon with each doubling on the week. Ron Burke has now claimed the top spot on the training standings with eight wins on the meet followed by Randy Crisler in second with six wins and a three-way tie in third between Tony Dinges, Walter Haynes Jr. and Robert Laffoon.
Oak Grove saw a pair of great gambling surprises during the week. Monday’s eighth race materialized into a cavalry charge to the finish fronted by longshot Shaving Cream, who powered over the top of the field to win and return $91.34 on a $2 mutuel. His upset, which spurred vertical payoffs of $513.52 for the $1 exacta, $1,816.30 for the 50-cent trifecta and $3,235.59 for the 10-cent superfecta, bolstered the $1 Pick 4 to return $3,085.16 in a sequence with winners at odds of 2/5, 7/2 and 3/5.
Tuesday’s racing opened with a wild maiden trotting event claimed by longshot Willpowernwow, who remained one of the few in the race to maintain his gait and as a result paid the highest win mutuel of the meet so far at $142.96. Tuesday’s $1 Pick 4 also showed fruitful returns aided by a 10-1 upset in the third leg by Tru Fortune. With winners in the other legs at odds of 8/5, 3/5 and 6/5, the $1 Pick 4 paid $677.85.
Racing at Oak Grove continues on a Monday-Tuesday rotation with the aforementioned exceptions during the 2026 Festival of Racing. First-race post time at Oak Grove is 1:10 p.m. (CDT). For more information, visit the Oak Grove website.