Oak Grove, KY – Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel offered exciting racing from different angles in the sixth week of the meet with the elite of the sport coming to compete in opening-round stakes action on Monday (April 27) and longshot players finding plenty of opportunities on the Tuesday (April 28) card, which saw nearly all of the day’s multi-race wagers go unsolved.
Monday (May 4) at Oak Grove, traditionally the day of the meet that draws the biggest betting pools, now has a pair of carryovers to bolster the guaranteed pools offered on the cavalcade day of stakes racing.
The $1 Pick-4, carrying over $1,563.18, will have a guaranteed pool of $10,000 on Monday. The 20-cent Late Pick-5, which bundles the two carryovers from this past Tuesday to total $2,762.96, will have a guaranteed pool of $12,500, upped from the initial $10,000 recently announced. Both the $1 Pick-4 and 20-cent Late Pick-5 offer a takeout of just 15 percent, meaning that bettors will play into essentially zero-takeout pools at the guarantee amounts and a lessened takeout with more money in the pools.
After a day of Kentucky Sire Stakes action on Monday that saw a 13.6 percent bump in handle year over year, Tuesday’s 14-race card proved to be a bettor’s buffet with win payoffs averaging $28.73 across 14 races. The day opened with an 8-1 upset by Carronsidelegcy GB and Dein Spriggs, foiling 1-5 favorite Fox Valley Vitali after he drifted towards the grandstand side off the last turn and fired a rally that could only land him third. Spriggs, a frequent competitor in amateur races at Oak Grove, later landed another upset win in the Early Pick-5 sequence against pro drivers, going down the road with 8-1 shot Coalford Hitman GB. With no favorites winning in the Early Pick-5, the sequence went uncovered.
The $1 Pick-4 sequence began a few races later with 2-1 second choice Frontier Fantasy failing to lead her competition around the track because of an enterprising drive by Pat Curtin on 45-1 shot Calico Sunset. Curtin blasted out of post 9 and landed in behind the draft of Frontier Fantasy, which primed him for an attack spinning for home. Calico Sunset kept surging and eventually collared Frontier Fantasy at the finish by a neck to win as the third longest shot on the board, paying $93.44 to win. Curtin followed that victory with another high-priced score when delivering Kissinbythebeaches to a front-stepping victory and paying $36.18 to win. Because of the wins by the pair of Curtin longshots, the $1 Pick-4 sequence went uncovered.
Favorites did gather some steam inside of the Late Pick-5 sequence with a 1-2, 3/5 and even-money shot finding the winner’s circle. However, Highrthananeagle A earned an apropos victory to wrap a day of high payoffs as Josert Fonseca managed to keep the pacesetter’s speed steady through the mile to land a neck victory as the longest shot on the board, paying $150.76 to win. The Wayne Oke trainee was one of four horses not covered in the Late Pick-5 sequence, spurring a carryover for Monday.
Dexter Dunn, flying in on Monday to compete in the day’s stakes action, claimed top driving honors this week at Oak Grove with three victories. A pair of other drivers coming in for stakes action, Todd McCarthy and Anthony MacDonald, also doubled. Of the local contingent: Pat Curtin, Marcus Miller, Marvin Luna and Dein Spriggs all doubled. Atlee Bender remains at the top of the driving standings with 16 wins this meet followed by Ronnie Wrenn Jr. with 15 wins and a tie in third between Brandon Bates and Marcus Miller with 12 wins.
Tony Dinges led all trainers on the week with three victories. Andrew Harris, Eric Patalan, Carter Pinske and Wayne Oke all won two races a piece during the week. Ron Burke has moved to a lone lead in the training standings with nine wins this meet while Dinges narrowed into second with eight wins. Randy Crisler and Wayne Oke currently sit tied for third with six wins.
Racing resumes at Oak Grove on Monday (May 4) for the start of the 2026 Festival of Racing, featuring the second preliminary of Kentucky Sire Stakes for 4-year-olds of both sexes and gaits and the eliminations for the Oak Grove Trotting Oaks and Oak Grove Trotting Derby. The $2.75-million Festival of Racing culminates on Preakness Saturday (May 16) with the inaugural finals of the $500,000 Oak Grove Trotting Derby and $300,000 Oak Grove Trotting Oaks. A concert from country music sensation Jake Owens will follow the big day of racing that begins at a special post time of 12:45 p.m. (CDT).
First-race post time on Monday at Oak Grove is 1:10 p.m. (CDT). For more information on racing at Oak Grove, including free past performance pages and race-by-race analysis from Ray Cotolo, visit oakgrovegaming.com. And for more information on the upcoming Oak Grove Festival of Racing, visit oakgrovederby.com.
Horses racing to the finish at Oak Grove. Tony Centonze Photography.