One of the highlight performances of the 31-race day at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel on Wednesday (June 18) came towards the end of the day when trainer Rod Debeck's Captaintreacherous gelding Captain Arturovico connected for his fifth-straight victory when taking the $16,216 fourth and last division of the Kentucky Proud Series for three-year-old pacing colts & geldings.
Sent the 4-5 favourite, driver Geremy Bobbitt hustled Captain Arturovico to the fore through a :26.4 first quarter and slowed proceedings with middle fractions of :57.1 and 1:25.1. He kept a sizeable advantage on his competition throughout the mile and strode away in the final quarter to register a 6-1/4-length victory in a 1:54 mile. Capt Karma (driven by Pat Curtin) parked the mile after trying to leave from post seven and just held second from Laser Speed (Ernie Hendry) closing in third.
Rod Debeck owns Captain Arturovico, who won for the sixth time from eight starts this season and for the seventh time in 17 starts in his career, good for $75,283 in earnings. He paid $3.78 to win.
A few races earlier, Got Bourbon (Peter Wrenn) matched the fastest mile of the day when popping pocket in the stretch to collar 4-5 favourite Beyond Cool (Joey Putnam) in a 1:54 effort. Melanie Wrenn trains the American Ideal colt for owner-breeder Rick Berks.
In the race right after, Midnight Magic (Wyatt Avenatti) also uncorked a 1:54 mile to post the fastest effort of the five Kentucky Proud Series divisions for three-year-old pacing fillies. Avenatti took the David Avenatti trainee pillar to post for a four-length victory. Wyatt and David Avenatti share ownership of Midnight Magic with Lane Avenatti and Kevin Nietfeldt. She paid $2.48 to win.
Wednesday's 17-race betting session opened with Whiskey Wow (Pat Curtin) posting the fastest mile of the three Kentucky Proud divisions for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Curtin pushed first over with the Crazy Wow gelding and grabbed a 1-3/4-length victory in 1:55 for owner-trainer Burlin Brower. He paid $5.52 to win.
The top mile on the day for three-year-old trotting fillies came from Gottakeepondreamin (Geremy Bobbitt), who romped off a pocket trip to a 5-3/4-length victory in a 1:56.2 mile. Rod Debeck trains the daughter of Greenshoe and co-owns her with Randy Donahue. She paid $3.58 to win.
Bobbitt also bagged the fastest mile of the four Kentucky Proud divisions for two-year-old pacing colts and geldings when Fletchers Field scampered to a 1:55.2 win on the betting card off a first-over push. Rod Debeck trains the colt by Tall Dark Stranger and co-owns him with Randy Donahue. He paid $3.64 to win.
The non-betting card featured three of the fastest performances on the whole day. First came Always By The Sea (Carson Conrad), who won the first of four divisions for two-year-old pacing fillies with a 1:55.1 effort to collar breakaway leader Flippin Liz (Matt Krueger). Charlie Conrad trains Always By The Sea for owners Jay Mossbarger and Steve Carter.
The final races of the non-betting session saw back-to-back top performances. Climax (Nicolas Roussel) posted a 2:00.4 win, the fastest of the four divisions for two-year-old trotting fillies, and then Magical Six Pack popped pocket to a 1:58.4 win, the fastest of the four splits for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings, in the non-betting finale. Roussel owns and trains Climax, a daughter of Gimpanzee, while Jason Enlow conditions Magical Six Pack — a colt by Six Pack — for owner Enlow Racing.
Roussel scored a training hat trick on the non-betting card. Before winning with Climax, he also piloted Dusty Roads to a 7-1/4-length win in 2:00.1 and Numanthia to a front-stepping 1-1/2-length win in 2:01.2. Trainer Rod Debeck also scored a hat trick with the aforementioned division winners Captain Arturovico, Gottakeepondreamin and Fletchers Field. Across both cards, Atlee Bender led all drivers with five wins on the day — three on the pari-mutuel card and two in the non-betting card.
Racing continues at Oak Grove on Monday (June 23) with 12 divisions for the opening preliminary of Kentucky Sire Stakes Series for two-year-olds along with three divisions for three-year-old trotting fillies. The remaining Kentucky Sire Stakes for three-year-olds will overflow onto the Tuesday (June 24) program, which also features the four $150,000 USD Kentucky Sire Stakes finals for four-year-olds. Over $1 million USD in purses will be on offer over the first two days of the race week.
First-race post time at Oak Grove each day is 1:25 p.m. (EDT).
(Oak Grove)