Hightstown, NJ – Atlee Bender is looking forward to the beginning of the upcoming Oak Grove meet in Kentucky, and not only for the racing.
“When Oak Grove starts, it means nicer weather, and that summer is around the corner,” said Bender, who has four drives on Monday’s (March 23) opening day card at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel and another nine on Tuesday. “It’s been a great place to race and it’s only going to get better. Hopefully, I can get some work and keep on rocking.”
Bender, an Indiana native who turned 34 on March 10, led all drivers in wins at Oak Grove in 2023 and 2024. He was denied a third consecutive title in 2025 by Marvin Luna, who took the crown by a two-race margin over Bender.
“He beat me last year for my three-peat, but I told him that I’m going to beat him this year,” Bender said with a laugh.
Despite not retaining his Oak Grove title in 2025, Bender enjoyed a career year. He set personal highs for wins, with 235, and purses, with $3.66 million. Those totals were particularly gratifying because Bender missed the second half of the previous season while recovering from injuries suffered in an accident at Oak Grove.
“Coming off the injury, I wasn’t sure how it was going to be, if I was going to get a lot of work,” Bender said. “You sit out for seven or eight months, and you think everybody is going to forget about you. But it didn’t work out like that at all. It went really well, better than I ever expected. I was really pleased with it. I’m ready to build off it and have another good year this year.”
Bender notched 17 stakes wins last season, with two coming on the Grand Circuit in divisions of the Pegasus Stakes for 3-year-old female pacers at his home track, Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Two other victories came at the Red Mile in the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series with 2-year-old female pacer Topville Lucky, trained and co-owned by his father-in-law, Erv Miller. Bender guided the filly to three wins in four starts before she was acquired by trainer Andrew Harris. She went 3-for-3 from there, capturing the KYSS Championship Series final and divisions of the Bluegrass and International Stallion Stakes.
“I’m thankful for the amount of work I got from other trainers last year,” Bender said. “Normally, the stakes drives have just kind of been out of Erv’s barn, but I got a lot of work from other great trainers, and I’m really appreciative of that. It was way more than I expected. It was just a great year overall.”
He added about Topville Lucky, “She was a superstar in the making and made me look good. She was probably the best 2-year-old I ever sat behind. We sold her and I lost the drive, but it was a great ride while it lasted. Hopefully, we’ve got a couple more (2-year-olds) coming up from Florida this year that will take her place.”
Following the completion in late November of last year’s Hoosier Park meet, where Bender finished sixth in the driver standings, he raced briefly at Hollywood Dayton Raceway before heading to Florida to work with the Miller Stable’s young horses and relax. He returned to action in February when Hoosier Park reopened for 2026.
“I like a little down time in the winter,” said Bender, who has won 890 races and $12 million in purses in his career. “We went to Florida for eight weeks and I trained babies down there, got some golf in. Now, I like staying busy and working in the summer. Things are getting ready to ramp-up.”
Oak Grove will race on Mondays and Tuesdays through July 14. The lone exception is Saturday, May 16, for the finals of the inaugural $500,000 Oak Grove Trotting Derby and $300,000 Oak Grove Trotting Oaks.
First-race post time is 1:10 p.m. (CDT) at Oak Grove. Handicapping resources, including free TrackMaster past performances, can be found here.