Oak Grove, KY — A treasure trove of Kentucky Sire Stakes (KYSS) races highlights the upcoming week of live harness racing at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel this Monday (July 6) through Wednesday (July 8), all at a special new post time of 10:55 a.m.
The 15-race card on Monday features seven total KYSS divisions for pacing 2-year-olds with a pair of $60,000 “A” divisions early in the day, which gathers the top finishers from the first KYSS events two weeks ago. The filly split, carded as Race 2, sees the return of Ronnie Gillespie’s freakishly quick Banana Beach, who has been listed has the 8-5 morning line favorite from post 7. Gillespie trains and drives the daughter of Pebble Beach-Sweet Anna Banana off a debut victory in 1:51.4, just four-fifths of a second off the track record. She leaves just to the outside of Bordeaux Station (driven by Todd McCarthy, post 6, 5-1 morning line), who won the other KYSS dash on June 22 in a 1:55 mile.
In the following race on Monday, the top pacing colts from the first KYSS round combine in their “A” division dash. Jamie Sullivan trainee Midnight Drive (Dexter Dunn, post 8, 2-1) earned morning-line favoritism off a 1:53.2 debut win under wraps in his division and will look to thwart the other opening-round winners in I’m Toohot For You (Marcus Miller, post 2, 4-1) and Ballarddrgoldfngr (Archie Buford, post 5, 6-1) in the stacked eight-horse field.
A 17-race card follows at Oak Grove for “Tuesday at the Trots” (July 7) with four $60,000 “A” divisions among the KYSS action programmed. The freshman trotting colts begin the top-class contests in Race 12 with a matchup between Delivery Boy (Dewayne Minor, post 6, 9/2) and Carbon Fiber (Yannick Gingras, post 7, 2-1), both of whom swooped from nearly last to first to win their KYSS events in 1:56.4 and 1:56.1 respectively. The eight-horse field also attracts KYSS division winners Special Day (Andy McCarthy, post 3, 3-1) and Oddsologist (Dexter Dunn, post 5, 6-1) in the competitive group.
Redice (Atlee Bender, post 5, 2-1) will look to build from a sensational 1:56.3 debut win by seven lengths in the KYSS “A” division for freshman trotting fillies, slated as Race 14. She’ll spar against division winners Carly P (Todd McCarthy, post 4, 8-1) and Secret Temptation (Andy McCarthy, post 8, 3-1) among five of the other top finishers from the opening event in the series.
Trainer Marcus Melander will deal four starters in the KYSS “A” division for sophomore trotting colts, three of which won in the opening event. Zephyr Kemp (Dexter Dunn, post 2, 5-2) earned morning-line favoritism off his 1:53.1 win in the first event, which was the fastest trotting mile of the day’s races. Nealon (Andy McCarthy, post 3, 9/2) and Never Say Die (Scott Zeron, post 7, 7/2) also enter off KYSS wins while Midwind Chimp (Mattias Melander, post 6, 8-1) is the lone Melander entrant entering from a second-place finish.
Oak Grove track-record holder Naked And Famous (Todd McCarthy, post 5, 5-2) will seek revenge from her defeat in the first KYSS event when she starts as the morning-line favorite in the KYSS “A” division for sophomore trotting mares. She competes right next door to Crossover (Dexter Dunn, post 6, 7-2), who bested the Noel Daley pupil from a pocket ride in a 1:53.3 effort last out. The eight-horse field also draws in first event winners Avenzee (Tim Tetrick, post 1, 8-1), Decreed (Andy McCarthy, post 4, 5-1) and Heart For Two (Yannick Gingras, post 7, 4-1).
A 16-race card wraps the week at Oak Grove on Wednesday with eight total divisions of KYSS. In the “A” division for sophomore pacing males, carded as Race 7, Show Me Your Ace (Dexter Dunn, post 3, 2-1) seeks another win fresh from his 1:49 track-record performance in the first event. He competes in a group that includes Funky Buddha (Tim Tetrick, post 7, 7-2), who broke the track record for pacing colts one race before with a 1:49.2 win, as well as KYSS first-event winners Papi Rick (Andy McCarthy, post 5, 4-1) and Captain Brunson (Todd McCarthy, post 6, 6-1) inside of the eight-horse field.
The KYSS “A” division for sophomore pacing fillies immediately follows in Race 8. Dexter Dunn opts to stay with Virgil Morgan Jr. trainee Hope Hill (post 3, 2-1), listed as the morning line favorite off her 1:50.3 victory in the first event. Scott Zeron then picks up the drive on Caviart Daisy (post 2, 3-1), whom Dunn drove to a track-record 1:51 win in the KYSS final for freshman pacing fillies last year at Oak Grove. She posted the fastest win of the three KYSS events for this cohort with a pocket-popping score in 1:50. Interstellar (Marvin Luna, post 4, 9/2), the other KYSS division winner, starts just outside of the race favorites in the tight-knit eight-horse contest.
Oak Grove’s loaded 48-race slate for the penultimate week of the 2026 meet features nearly $2 million in purses.
Betting Menu Adjustment
In the homestretch of the 2026 harness racing season, Oak Grove has again amended its wagering menu as part of a continual effort to provide dynamic and engaging betting opportunities for its customers. Oak Grove has raised the minimum wager on three bets: the trifecta, superfecta and the Pick 5. The trifecta minimum has been raised from 50 cents to one dollar while superfecta minimum has been raised from 10 cents to 50 cents and the Pick 5 has been raised from 20 cents to one dollar. Minimums on the rest of the wagering slate (Win-Place-Show, Exacta, Pick 4, et al.) remain the same at one dollar. Oak Grove wishes to remind customers that the takeout on all multi-race wagers at the track (Pick 4 and Pick 5) is just 15 percent.
Live racing at Oak Grove continues on a Monday-Wednesday rotation through closing day, which is now next Wednesday (July 15) to serve as a makeup card for the days lost due to the heat cancellation last week. First-race post time for the rest of the meet at Oak Grove will be 10:55 a.m. For more information, visit oakgrovegaming.com.