Oak Grove, KY – As the 2026 season of harness racing at Oak Grove continues to show strengthened growth in handle, the Monday (May 18) card saw a record amount bet in a single pool at Oak Grove when a $17,000 Pick-4 carryover from the Oak Grove Trotting Derby card attracted gamblers in droves.
The Pick-4 at Oak Grove has already provided positive returns to gamblers in 2026 as a result of its dollar minimum and lowered takeout of 15 percent. But the carryover, the largest ever at Oak Grove, created a betting opportunity that attracted a total pool of $83,060.36 and a negative takeout, meaning more money was paid to bettors on the winning combo. Monday’s sequence handily offered around 2-1/2 times the dollar parlay when winners at odds of 1-1, 8-5, 7-2 and 18-1 returned $1,202.91 for a buck to winning Pick-4 ticket holders.
Even without the record pool in the Pick-4 on Monday, Oak Grove has held strong wagering momentum on the winds of the inaugural Oak Grove Trotting Derby Day card. Handle year-over-year on the Monday card was up 42.1 percent and up nearly 30 percent on the Tuesday (May 19) card. Through the 2026 meet, handle remains up at Oak Grove over 20 percent and up 15 percent excluding the Oak Grove Trotting Derby card, demonstrating continued growth in the overall Oak Grove product.
While favorites have found a short run of success of late at Oak Grove, Tuesday’s card generated robust payoffs with only five chalks reaching the winner’s circle on the 14-race card. A 5-1 winner in the second race and a 7-1 winner in the fifth race were the only straws needed to spur a carryover in the Early Pick-5, which otherwise proved to be a logical sequence with three winners paying under a $6 win mutuel. Chaos later ensued in the Late Pick-5 when a 10-1 winner and 27-1 winner squashed any live tickets, resulting in a pair of carryovers to Monday’s (May 25) 20-cent Late Pick-5, which has a takeout of 15 percent, totaling $1,225.24. With several longshots and many middle-priced horses finding the winner’s circle Tuesday, the average win payoff through the 14 races came out to a healthy $14.57 — roughly an average of 6-1.
And without a carryover in the $1 Pick-4 on Tuesday, gamblers who connected on the winning combination were paid handsomely. A slight surprise opened the sequence with a 5-1 winner foiling the 3-2 favorite followed by a 1-9 shot in the next leg that functioned as a popular free square for many mapping tickets. A 6-1 winner then nipped the 8-5 favorite in the closing strides of the third leg before the 9-5 second choice scored in the last leg. With no horse paying higher than $15 in a sequence that could basically be bet as a Pick-3, the $1 Pick-4 paid $605.22 — nearly four times better than the dollar parlay.
Brandon Bates led all drivers this week at Oak Grove with four wins in total on Monday and Tuesday, scoring a driving double each day. Geremy Bobbitt and Marcus Miller each registered three wins through the race week and five drivers managed doubles: Atlee Bender, Marvin Luna, Austin Hanners, Joey Putnam and Jamaal Denson. Bender currently holds the top spot on the driver’s standings with 29 wins through the meet followed by Marcus Miller in second with 23 wins. Ronnie Wrenn Jr. sits third in the standings with 19 wins while Bates’s four-win week brought him closer in the ranks in fourth with 16 wins this meet.
Todd Luther’s training hat trick on the Monday card gave him the week’s top training honors while Matt Rodriguez, Jonas Czernyson, Erv Miller and Jamaal Denson each notched training doubles. Ron Burke holds a slimming lead on the training standings with 15 wins this meet followed by Erv Miller in second with 14 wins. Tony Dinges sits third in the standings with 12 wins and Wayne Oke is holding fourth with 11 wins.
Live racing resumes at Oak Grove on Monday (May 25) with a 14-race card including the first preliminary of the next Kentucky Sire Stakes series for 4-year-olds as well as with wiener dog races on the day. First-race post time is 1:10 p.m. (CDT). For more information, visit oakgrovegaming.com.