By JIM WELLS
Call him a jack of all trades or maybe a multi-tasker,but by either definition Rusty Shaw had his plate full on Sunday.
He was at the track by 4 a.m. to handle the horses in Valorie Lund’s barn, to work them, hot-walk them, feed them and help settle them in for the day if they weren’t running later on.
Then, he was in the jockey lounge late that morning to fulfill four riding assignments.
“I’m an assistant slash jockey slash hot-walker slash gallop boy, a little bit of everything,” Shaw said.
Shaw agreed to assist Lund with her barn this summer, but she went a step further with her list of expectations. She talked Shaw into riding the meet for her after he rode two winners right off the bat from Lund’s barn, one at Churchill Downs on opening day in Shakopee, the other one day later at Canterbury.
Sunday afternoon, with Lund at Saratoga to saddle Atta Boy Roy in the Grade I Vanderbilt, Shaw took S S Shelby to the winner’s circle for her in Race 3 at Canterbury. He got his second win on the card with Cachemassa Creek for Bryan Porter.
Then he settled in to watch the Vanderbilt in the jockey lounge. He was rooting for the big horse in the Lund barn, naturally, out of loyalty and self-interest, too. “I get two percent if he wins,” Shaw said.
Alas, the Grade I competition in New York was too fierce and Atta Boy finished last in the field of eight.
SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN
One day after Extreme Day, conditions around Canterbury Park were quite quiet (try saying that 10 times quite quickly), probably in respite from the boisterous proceedings 24 hours earlier.
Whatever the reason, there was nothing remarkable about the card or the day other than minor changes to the rider and trainer standings.
Suddenly, things are heating up.
Mike Biehler, the training champion at Canterbury in 1992, saddled two winners on the nine-race card, moving into a tie with Bernell Rhone, who won the training title here in 1996. They have 24 wins apiece.
Mac Robertson, who has won six consecutive titles, did not have a starter on Sunday’s card and is next in the standings with 16 wins.
Meanwhile, the rider standings remained unchanged at the top. Dean Butler, working on a third straight title, didn’t ride a winner Sunday but still leads with 46 wins for the meet. Derek Bell, inducted into the track’s Hall of Fame on Saturday night, didn’t ride a winner Sunday either and is second with 39 wins.
There were two double winners on Sunday’s card. Lori Keith increased her win total to 23. Shaw now has eight.
Jennifer Schmidt rode Stoli Vanil, the winner of the last race on the card out of the Ed Ross Hardy barn. Schmidt is tied with Tom Wellington, both with 11 wins. Hardy, who has won nine straight training titles and 10 overall, has eight wins, one behind the leader, Brent Clay.
