Danish-bred trotter Jigger Dk made an impressive North American debut as the gelding, bred and now trained by Jean-Pierre Dubois, went coast-to-coast in 1:51.1 in the $41,096 Open Handicap Trot at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel on Tuesday, April 28. The victory was also French driver Stephane Guelpa's first on the continent.
Jigger Dk hustled out of post two for Guelpa and forced all 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 (Devon Tharps) secured the pocket out of post eight and gave closest pursuit behind the leader as the bulk of the field struggled to follow the hot tempo 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 to prevail by three-quarters of a length. Cecil Hanover finished third.
A six-year-old Fabulous Wood-Little Jigger gelding, Jigger Dk collected his 13th win from 27 starts and has now earned $215,459. Dubois conditions the gelding, who is owned by Dream With Me Florida LLC. Sent off at 12-1, Jigger DK paid $26.80 to win.
Guelpa's first pari-mutuel victory in North America added to the 749 wins he registered competing in France beginning in 2003. He had five prior starts in the United States and now has seven after a place finish with Hustle N Bustle in the seventh race on Tuesday.
Racing resumes at Oak Grove on Monday, May 4 for the start of the 2026 Festival of Racing, which has nearly $2.75 million USD 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 Kentucky Sire Stakes for four-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 totalling $2,762.96, will also have a $10,000 guaranteed pool.
(With files from Oak Grove)