Little Expensive shipped west from his home-base on the East Coast and fired down the road to a 1:53 win in the $54,795 Open Trot on Tuesday, July 15, the closing day of a record-breaking meet at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel.
Leaving from post five, driver Andy Miller hustled Little Expensive forward in a four-wide charge to the first turn. He cleared to the lead from the three-wide path after a :26.1 first quarter to pocket Dp Freedoms Chrome (Tony Hall) moving past the grandstand for the first time. Railee Something (Joey Putnam), the 4-5 favourite, had to pull back from her four-wide bid to race fourth, but she soon angled outside to attack first-up passing a :55.3 half.
Railee Something marched towards Little Expensive up the backstretch, though her bid stalled before even reaching the tempo-setter's wheel. Little Expensive clocked three-quarters in 1:23.3 and held his ground through the turn and down the stretch as closers swooped in from both flanks. Amigo Volo (David Miller) slid through an inside seam for second, beaten three-quarters of a length, while Oh Look Magic (Devon Tharps) rallied down the wide side of the track for third and Dp Freedoms Chrome finished fourth.
Julie Miller trains Little Expensive, a five-year-old gelding by Muscle Hill-Seviyorum, for owners Andy Miller Stable Inc., Jean Goehlen, and VIP Internet Stable LLC. He won his sixth race from 15 starts this season and his 13th in 48 starts in his career, good for $328,693 in earnings. He paid $7.42 to win.
Pioneer As (Hall) sat a perfect pocket trip off fast early fractions before making a three-wide pounce on the last turn and staving off a late rally from Empire Builder (Geremy Bobbitt) to win the $32,877 Chad Stubbs Memorial Open 2 Trot by a neck in 1:54.2. Southwind Mai Tai (Andy Shetler) finished second with Finish Strong (Sharps) well back in third. The winning six-year-old daughter of Devious Man-Provide As collected her 17th victory from 70 starts and added to an account now worth $620,916 for owner-breeder ACL Stuteri AB.
Her win came in the middle of a training hat trick on the 13-race card for Anette Lorentzon, who won in the first race of the day with Dwood (Hall, 1:56.4, $8.56) and late in the day with Justasiam As (Hall, 1:54.4, $2.40). The Paris, Ky.-based conditioner boasts an 18.8 per cent win rate this year as she heads towards a ninth straight year with more than 100 victories.
Lil Joe III (Matt Krueger) upset in the final race of the meet, the $23,288 Freddie Patton Sr. Memorial, at odds of 21-1 when collaring 2-5 favourite Fox Valley Langley (Bobbitt) from a first-over grind in the closing strides of a 1:53.1 mile. Donricus Blackmon trains the stallion for Turrondus Smith.
Oak Grove honoured the lives of Stubbs and Patton Sr., two pivotal members of the Kentucky racing community who passed away this year, with a moment of silence during the racing card.
Erv Miller handily secured another training title at Oak Grove. His two victories on the day increased his total to 35 victories to end the meet while Tony Dinges finished second with 24 wins. Ron Burke was third with 21 wins while Wayne Oke and Carter Pinske tied for fourth with 20 wins each.
Marvin Luna secured the driving title, which he nearly clinched in 2024 with a furious closing gambit before finishing second to Atlee Bender. This time around, Luna clung to the title with 43 victories as Atlee Bender worked to cut a six-win deficit on the closing-day card, but Bender hit a driving grand slam to cement his spot in second with 41 wins. Joey Putnam finished third in the drivers' standings with 36 wins while Todd McCarthy and Marcus Miller tied for fourth with 27 wins.
Oak Grove set record handle numbers in its 2025 season. The southern Kentucky track continues to post year-over-year gains in betting with the 2025 meeting handling $11.3 million from 37 race days, an increase from the $9.8 million handled from 35 race days in 2024 — a roughly 15 per cent increase year over year. Handle in 2025 has increased just over 60 per cent from 2023, which saw $7 million come through the windows — all a continued increase from when Oak Grove held its first meet in 2020 and handled $1.2 million with just 14 race days.
Racing will return to Oak Grove in 2026.
(With files from Oak Grove)