While Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel officially began its harness racing journey in October 2019, the track will truly mark its place in the sport as a force on the Grand Circuit stakes scene this Saturday (May 16) when it hosts the $500,000 G1 Oak Grove Trotting Derby and $300,000 G1 Oak Grove Trotting Oaks. These events, as well as the entire vision of Oak Grove present and future, is something that has been a passion project for a man who has been waiting for the Kentucky Standardbred racing scene to revive for a long time. "No one could tell you that they knew exactly where historical horse racing [similar to slot machines] would go in terms of the revenues it would generate. But we were cautiously optimistic that if we won the legal battles to make it available and the track partners that were interested in the open licenses were able to secure them and invest in the industry, we hoped there would be this rebirth of what we're seeing right now in Kentucky," said Ken Jackson, co-owner of Kentuckiana Farms, as well as the Lexington Selected Sales Company, and a key figure in the shaping of the Oak Grove experience. "One of the things we always had as a vision was that we would be part of a signature event, but we wanted to do it what we believed is the right way, and that is build a significant and meaningful race program. And we grew from the first year 16 days to we're now racing 37 days. We raced for $600,000 in year one, and when it's all added up between Sire Stakes, overnights and stake events, we'll be north of probably $11 million at Oak Grove alone." Jackson speaks passionately about Oak Grove and especially its newest stakes races. He sees them as a starting point rather than the finish line and is hoping Saturday's event will set a bar Oak Grove can continue to raise year after year through promotion and great racing. "I never knew if I would be this energized about harness racing again in Kentucky. We've been hanging on with a lifeline for 20 plus years prior to historical horse racing," said Jackson, who was in a position to be part of the change due to his connections with the racing commission, industry leadership and ties throughout both Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing and breeding. "We've been able to achieve the things we've hoped for and dreamed for many years back." Infused with supplemental income from casino gaming revenue, Kentucky breeding has seen a boon. Foal crops have increased exponentially from a few hundred per year to nearly 2,000, and purses have risen in kind, with the Sire Stakes finals growing from $175,000 in 2016 to $400,000 this year. A number of large stables have even opened up operations locally in Kentucky to take advantage of the warmer weather and racing opportunities. Trainers Marcus Melander and Ake Svanstedt now have strings in the state and owner Greg Luther just finished work on his new facility outside of Lexington. Jackson estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 acres of land has been purchased in the Bluegrass region by out-of-state Standardbred people in the last handful of years alone. Having a flourishing breeding program in Kentucky was vital to build a foundation for the Commonwealth to take its place among the elite regions in North American harness racing, but to truly reach new heights more was necessary. ► Get FREE Harness Eye Past Performances for the Saturday card at Oak Grove Enter the $500,000 G1 Oak Grove Trotting Derby and $300,000 G1 Oaks, a pair of races for 3-year-old trotters that not only fill a hole in the schedule on the road to the $1,000,000 G1 Hambletonian and $500,000 G1 Hambo Oaks, but more importantly lifts Kentucky's profile in the sport with a marquee event for sophomore trotters now at the start and near the end (Kentucky Futurity and Filly Futurity at Red Mile in October) of the year. "That's a combination of my vision and Churchill's vision, but I believe horse racing as a whole needs to do more major events and maybe not race as often. I know that probably won't be a popular opinion among maybe some trainers and drivers and others, but I think you have to have to have a blend and you've got to draw people by having signature events," said Jackson about the reason the Oak Grove Derby and Oaks were created. "I also believe that if signature events are done properly and involve influencers within the industry, and that's every aspect of it - whether it's an owner, a trainer, a driver, a breeder, a fan, press, and they have fun at it - then all of a sudden you've built massive ambassadors for your vision. And the great thing about this project is that virtually every person I've reached out to that I believe could add value in some way has been willing to share that vision with us and try to support that vision." Both the Derby and Oaks have brought new concepts to the stakes landscape in terms of how horses gain eligibility and the way the races are drawn. The races have created somewhat of a regional championship for the previous year's 2-year-olds by inviting and paying the nominating fees for most of the Sire Stakes champions ($250,000-plus finals), as well as winners of the sport's Grade 1 races. That creates great value to owners and trainers who can avoid thousands in nominating payments yet still compete for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oak Grove even waived the $500 starting fee for horses competing in the consolations as a thank you to the 101 horses that nominated to the two races. Which leads to the question, should tracks or horsemen's organizations foot more of the bill for big-money events? "If financially they were in a position to be able to do so," said Jackson. "I would love to have the opportunity to fully analyze our staking system in its current format. I've looked at it, but I haven't spent the number of hours it's going to take to see, are we doing it the right way? I'm not saying that we're not doing it the right way, but I always like to challenge myself to see if we can do things better that could be make things more affordable for the masses but also generate more revenue for the sponsors, meaning the racetracks, and also increase the participation for the for the trainers, the owners and the horses." While offering the opportunity to race for $300,000 or $500,000 is one thing, it still required many industry participants to change their mindset for how to prepare for the biggest races. The previous season for the elite 3-year-old trotters began around the first half of May with qualifying races perhaps followed by Sire Stakes before the Grand Circuit kicked into high gear in mid-June. Could there be a world where - like Thoroughbred racing - the racing season for our best horses starts earlier and lasts longer? "One of the biggest drivers of everything we've done with this event is try to leverage Thoroughbred racing in the time of the year where more eyeballs are on Thoroughbred racing from around the world and see if we can put eyeballs on harness racing in and around the same time," said Jackson. "Churchill believes we can. I believe we can. And our team at Oak Grove believes we can." ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Another way Oak Grove took a novel approach was by electing to do a completely open draw when setting the eliminations and the finals of their signature races. Rather than separating horses trained or owned by the same person into different eliminations, they let luck decide the fate of all entrants. While a number of tracks utilize an open draw for stakes, many give elimination winners an advantage in the form of an inside post. "I just feel - along with other people that I rely on to bounce ideas off - that the fairest way to compete in horse racing is through an open draw. And so when the vision of the race was established, we also took it all the way down to the smallest levels of things like that and felt like everybody that wanted to nominate in and then actually entered should have a chance to race based upon the where the chips fall and not have historical practices interfere with that in forms of separating trainers and then separating owners. "The open draw is the clearest path to a great race," continued Jackson. "We wanted to respect traditions where they made sense but not stick with them just because they were traditional in a process. And I don't believe favoring or giving preferences to certain horses based on prior performances is one that adds for the best final product. And I guess if you take the Thoroughbred reference and follow their road to the Derby, points are awarded and those points get you in the Derby, but they don't give the highest point earner the choice to pick his post position. Renegade had an incredible run to finish second to Golden Tempo [this year], but he never would've picked the one hole for the Derby if he got the choice." For Jackson and Oak Grove, the future is a place where anything is possible. A place where handle has steadily risen through an improved simulcast feed/show and effort. A place where big events are now possible and a large crowd hopefully won't be something from decades ago. A place where you work with forward-thinking people to provide the best possible product. A place where you - in the words of Jackson - consider the input of owners, trainers, drivers, gamblers, gambling advisors, track management, fans, sponsors, and event coordinators. To that point, when there were complaints early on from horse people about the surface at Oak Grove, management brought in experts to make the needed changes. And it doesn't stop there according to Marcus Melander, who has one Oaks finalist and a pair in the Trotting Derby. When asked about the condition of the track on the elimination card, the trainer provided criticism along with praise. "It was a little bit hard in the beginning of the day, but the guys who are there working on the track and the management, they're very open for everything, so if you have any opinions they want to learn and listen to us, all the horse people. So while it was a little hard at the beginning of the day, it got better and better throughout the whole card," said Melander. If effort and desire alone are enough to will an event to succeed, then May 16 at Oak Grove, with $1.5 million in purses on the line, will not only be an overwhelming success in the eyes of the participants but also the entire industry. The sky is the limit for Oak Grove at the moment and Jackson and the Oak Grove team wouldn't have it any other way.