Oak Grove, KY — Trainer Jean-Pierre Dubois reunited on Tuesday (April 28) with Jigger DK, a trotter he bred that spent his career racing in Europe, to post a strong upset in the $30,000 featured Open Handicap Trot at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel with a down-the-road effort in a 1:51.1 mile.
Driver Stéphane Guelpa hustled Jigger DK out of post 2 and forced all his rivals to take seats in behind as he blazed to a :26.3 first quarter and held his momentum to a :54.4 half. Cecil Hanover (driven by Devon Tharps) secured the pocket out of post 8 and gave closest pursuit behind the hot fractions as the bulk of the field struggled to follow as the tempo remained hot to three-quarters in 1:22. DP Freedoms Chrome (Marcus Miller) emerged out of third spinning for home to take a shot at Jigger DK, but Guelpa kept his charge steady to the finish and held his ground by three-quarters of a length. Cecil Hanover finished third and Tom’s Muscle (Josert Fonseca) rallied for fourth.
A 6-year-old gelding by Fabulous Wood, Jigger DK collected his 13th win from 27 starts and has now earned $178,777. Dubois also owns the gelding under the nom de course Dream With Me Florida LLC. With the win, Guelpa also notched his first pari-mutuel driving victory in North America, adding to the 749 victories he registered competing in France beginning in 2003. Sent off at 12-1, Jigger DK paid $26.80 to win.
Racing at Oak Grove resumes on Monday (May 4) for the start of the 2026 Festival of Racing with nearly $2.75 million in purses on offer. Monday’s card will feature eliminations for the Oak Grove Trotting Derby and Oak Grove Trotting Oaks as well as the second preliminary of the Kentucky Sire Stakes for 4-year-olds of both sexes and gaits. And after nearly every multi-race wager on Tuesday at Oak Grove resulted in a carryover, Monday’s card will also feature a pair of guaranteed pools. The $1 Pick-4, with a carryover of $1,563.18, will have a $10,000 guaranteed pool and the 20-cent Late Pick-5, with a pair of carryovers from Tuesday totaling $2,762.96, will also have a $10,000 guaranteed pool.
First-race post time at Oak Grove is 1:10 p.m. (CDT). For more information, visit oakgrovegaming.com. And for more information on the upcoming Festival of Racing, visit oakgrovederby.com.