After sweeping the featured paces on Monday's card, driver Devon Tharps and trainer Ron Burke came back in full force on Tuesday (June 11) to Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel for a last-to-first blitzing win by Oh Look Magic in the $54,795 Open Trot.
Tharps settled into his seat at the caboose of a :27.2 first quarter uncorked by Pioneer As (driven by Tony Hall) as she tried again to steal the featured trot from the point. Pioneer As strolled to the half in :56.2 and attempted to slip clear of her competition to three-quarters in 1:24.3, building a near three-length lead to the final turn. But as Pioneer As spun for home, Tharps came charging with Oh Look Magic off a brief second-over ride and advanced unrelentingly through the straightaway. Oh Look Magic slid by a game Pioneer As in the final strides to grab the win by a neck in 1:53.2 while pocket-sitter Swan Flyer (Marvin Luna) gave chase in third, beaten another five lengths, with Its A Herbie (Verlin Yoder) snagging fourth.
Oh Look Magic, winning back-to-back Opens at Oak Grove, has now collected 11 victories from 33 starts and banked $355,926. The four-year-old gelding by Lookslikeachpndale races for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. He paid $6.40 to win.
While Burke and Tharps swept the week's features, trainer Anette Lorentzon scored a hat trick on the Tuesday card alone. Her and driver Tony Hall teamed for wins with Mister Dad (1:55 winning time; $4.16 to win), Seeuontheotherside (1:51.4; $3.36) and Till I Collapse As (1:56.4; $7.30).
Live racing resumes at Oak Grove on Monday (June 17) at 3 p.m. (CDT) and features a carryover into the Early Pick 3 of $398.81, which starts in Race 4. Oak Grove will also race an additional day next week with a special Wednesday (June 19) race card featuring the Kentucky Proud Series that gets underway at 11 a.m. (CDT). Free program pages for every race day, courtesy of TrackMaster, are available on the Oak Grove Racing website.
(Oak Grove Racing Publicity)