Driver Atlee Bender reached the winner's circle seven times on Tuesday, May 5 at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel, besting the previous track record of six wins in a day by Todd McCarthy set last year.
Bender, who is seeking to reclaim the driving title at Oak Grove after finishing a narrow second last year to Marvin Luna, scored his first win in Race 3, piloting Granite Ridge Lady ($5.82) to a 1:56.1 victory in a $13,514 conditioned pace. A few races later, James In Charge A ($4.54) stormed clear of his competition for a 5-1/2-length victory for Bender in a 1:52.2 mile to win a $18,919 conditioned pace. Bender then went on a tear in the second half of the card, winning all but one of the last six races on the day. He landed a natural hat trick with D A Wicked Shine ($9.06), International Law ($5) and Miss Fancy Nancy ($3.02) and scored back-to-back wins in the final two races with Strangerinthenight ($4.60) and Tickled To Tears ($11.60). With a driving assignment in every one of the 14 races on Tuesday, Bender hit the board in 11 and missed a cheque only once.
Marcus Miller, Bender's brother-in-law, also had a good day on Tuesday with three driving wins including a 1:50.3 victory in the $27,027 featured conditioned pace behind Todd Luther trainee Swaggy Cal. The five-year-old gelding enjoyed a garden trip behind Universal (Bender) through a quick tempo of :26.3, :55.1 and 1:22.1 before pouncing out of the pocket and spurting clear for a 4-1/4-length win. Great Seats (Wyatt Avenatti) took second while Universal tired to third.
A son of Rockin Image-Pristine Beauty, Swaggy Cal won his second race from 11 starts this season and improved to 12-for-53 in his career with a bankroll of $311,874 for owner Greg Luther Racing LLC. He paid $7.48 to win.
Live racing at Oak Grove resumes on Sunday, May 10 with a special Mother's Day card featuring corgi races at the track. Oak Grove will host harness racing on Monday, May 11 and then return for the $1.5 million day of racing on Preakness Saturday, May 16 at a special post time of 12:45 p.m. (CDT).
First-race post time at Oak Grove on Sunday is 1:10 p.m. (CDT).
(With files from Oak Grove)