There was a seven-horse harness racing accident in the 13th and final race of the day at Oak Grove Racing Tuesday, July 2 with five harness racing drivers taken away in ambulances. All of the horses involved got up following the accident.
It has been reported that driver Devon Tharps was conscious and aided onto an ambulance. Cordarius Stewart appeared also on that ambulance. Stephen White was conscious and put into an ambulance. Marvin Luna and Atlee Bender also put into ambulances
The accident happened as the field past the three-quarter mile mark in 1:25.4 with Shamwow (Brandon Bates) on the lead and Lil Joe Iii (Geremy Bobbit) first-over. They cleared the accident as the rest of the field behind them was involved. The race was declared a No Contest.
Drivers Pat Curtin, Joey Putnam and Zyler Maxwell got up and were walking.
According to Ray Cotolo on Twitter, drivers Devon Tharps, Cordarius Stewart, Stephen White, Marvin Luna, and Atlee Bender were put in ambulances. He also wrote that all horses were up and walking.
Addition information will be added when available.
by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink
Atlee Bender and Erv Miller trainee Sparks Fly (Bar Hopping) persisted through a first-over push to clinch a tight win in the $40,000 Open Trot at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel on Tuesday afternoon (July 2).
Leaving from post 1, Bender found himself in third with Sparks Fly as Pioneer As (driven by Marvin Luna) ventured forward to grab the lead from Oh Look Magic (Devon Tharps) after a :27 first quarter. Pioneer As then coasted to a :56.3 half and raced unchallenged on the lead until Bender slyly angled Sparks Fly first up in the backstretch. Sparks Fly then cruised towards Pioneer As to three-quarters in 1:25.3 and muscled to a narrow lead turning for home.
Pioneer As kept digging at the inside and Amigo Volo (Joey Putnam) steamrolled off cover and came lunging late. Sparks Fly reached the beam in time to wade the last charge from Amigo Volo by a nose in a 1:54 mile while Pioneer As settled for third and Oh Look Magic raced locked in fourth.
A 4-year-old gelding, Sparks Fly has now won nine races from 25 starts and earned $156,950 for owners Ervin Miller Stable Inc. and Douglas Overhiser. He paid $16.06 to win.
Live racing resumes at Oak Grove on Sunday (July 7) with a 15-race card of Kentucky Sire Stakes starting at 3 p.m. (CDT). Oak Grove will also shift to a three-day racing schedule of Sunday through Tuesday starting on July 7 and lasting through the end of the meet. Free program pages for every race day, courtesy of TrackMaster, are available on the Oak Grove Racing website.
For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.
