As more of the stars of harness racing ready for their campaigns on the Grand Circuit, which includes the inaugural Oak Grove Trotting Derby in May, bettors continue to catch larger pools at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel ahead of the opening of stakes action at the track on Monday, April 27.

Through five weeks of racing in the 2026 meeting, Oak Grove gross handle is up 6.2 per cent year over year with the track's usual highlight day of wagering upcoming. Bettors have traditionally carried energy from the Kentucky Derby over to Oak Grove for the following Monday of racing, which has broken the handle record every year since 2023 (in 2022, the Tuesday after the Kentucky Derby broke the record). With betting pools still on the improve, bettors will also have the opportunity to wager on elite harness racing after the Kentucky Derby on Monday, May 4 with Kentucky Sire Stakes preliminaries scheduled as well as the eliminations for the Oak Grove Trotting Derby and Oak Grove Trotting Oaks. Those events will attract many of the sport's best young trotting talent as they prime their campaigns towards the $1 million Hambletonian later in the year.

The Festival of Racing, opening on that Monday, May 4 after the Kentucky Derby, continues with racing on Tuesday, May 5 and with a special day of racing on Mother's Day, May 10 featuring a day of Corgi Races for charity alongside harness racing. The Festival culminates on Preakness Day on Saturday, May 16 with over $1.5 million USD in stakes racing starting at 12:45 p.m. (CDT) and wrapping with a concert from country music star Jake Owen after the races.

Atlee Bender claimed top driving honours on the week at Oak Grove after five wins on the Tuesday card. Bender, the leading driver at Oak Grove in 2023 and 2024, vaulted to the top of the standings with seven victories total on the week. Ronnie Wrenn Jr., after a driving hat trick on Monday, holds second in the standings while Brandon Bates sits third with a pair of wins on the week. Geremy Bobbitt, fifth in the standings, had three wins on the week, and Joey Putnam, sixth in the standings, doubled.

Top training honours went by a six-way tie to Ron Burke, Erv Miller, Rodney Debeck, Justin Lloyd, Joe Putnam and Robert Laffoon, with each doubling on the two-day week. Ron Burke has now claimed the top spot in the training standings with eight wins on the meet, followed by Randy Crisler in second with six wins and a three-way tie in third between Tony Dinges, Walter Haynes Jr. and Robert Laffoon.

There were a pair of big pari-mutuel surprises at Oak Grove during the week. Monday's eighth race materialized into a cavalry charge to the finish fronted by longshot Shaving Cream, who powered over the top of the field to win and return $91.34 on a $2 wager. His upset, which spurred vertical payoffs of $513.52 for the $1 exactor, $1,816.30 for the 50-cent triactor and $3,235.59 for the 10-cent superfecta, bolstered the $1 Pick 4 to return $3,085.16 in a sequence with winners at odds of 2-5, 5-2 and 3-5.

Tuesday's racing opened with a wild maiden trotting event claimed by longshot Willpowernwow, who remained one of the few in the race to maintain his gait and as a result paid the highest win mutuel of the meet so far at $142.96. Tuesday's $1 Pick 4 also showed fruitful returns aided by a 10-1 upset in the third leg by Tru Fortune. With winners in the other legs at odds of 8-5, 3-5 and 6-5, the $1 Pick 4 paid $677.85.

Racing at Oak Grove continues on a Monday-Tuesday rotation with the aforementioned exceptions during the 2026 Festival of Racing. First-race post time at Oak Grove is 1:10 p.m. (CDT).

(Oak Grove)