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A Day at Oak Grove Harness
I am not much of a writer, but would like to share my thoughts and observations here regarding my recent visit to Oak Grove Harness Track (and Gaming/Hotel) in Oak Grove, Kentucky.
I attended the harness races on the second day of the meet on Monday, April 17, 2023. There is presently live harness racing on Sundays and Mondays (and eventually Tuesdays) through July 4.
The track (with adjacent ‘casino’ and hotel) is a relatively new and beautiful facility.
There are free soft drinks and coffee in the gaming area, but you have to pay for these at the track just a few feet away. (I never understood this).
There is a fancy steakhouse and bar in the gaming area as well, but unfortunately these are apparently closed on most race days (Monday and Tuesday).
It is a 5/8 mile track.
There is penny breakage on all payouts, which is unusual.
At peak attendance that day, there were approximately 30 people at the track, including those both inside and outside.
There was a nearby simulcasting room, with approximately three people in attendance.
There is no toteboard in the infield.
There is no way to see pool totals.
The track race commenter is Ray Cotolo. He talked for a majority of the time between races, which became quite annoying.
One of the Customer Service Representatives corrected me for calling this a 'casino', as there are ‘slot machines’ only, and no table games. But ‘slot machines’ are not allowed in Kentucky. He explained that they get around the ‘no slots’ law by instead using ‘historic racing machines’, where the results of each spin is the result of a randomly selected historical parimutuel race. Weird.
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