A Tale of Two Deans
By Noah Joseph Over the years, many jockeys who rode regularly at Canterbury became fan favorites and etched their names into history. Jockeys like Derek Bell, Paul Nolan, Scott Stevens, Ronnie Allen Jr., Donna Barton, and Chris Valovich all became Minnesota racing legends. However, two that really stand out were two jockeys with the same […]
Tim Padilla Has Done It All
By Rebecca Roush When it comes to horse racing, trainer Tim Padilla says there is no job he hasn’t had. Growing up in Arizona, he watched his father, Victor Padilla, train horses. He recalls helping out, along with his brother and sister, with the horses. “That’s all I really did as a kid,” he said. […]
Anthony Kelzenberg Wound His Way To Racehorse Ownership
By Rebecca Roush Growing up in Watertown, Minnesota, racehorse owner Anthony Kelzenberg would often make the trip to Canterbury Downs in 1985 to help his father pick horses to bet on. After a year of coming to the track, he started becoming a fan of the sport. “It took me a while to really get […]
Wednesday Night Racing Joins Scene
BY JIM WELLS Something is about to happen at Canterbury Park that hasn’t taken place since the facility was known as Canterbury Downs. Wednesday racing. Wednesday cards were a regular occurrence in the Downs days, at least when the allure of racing and pari mutuel betting were new to the sports scene in Minnesota and […]
Winning Races For Veterans
BY JIM WELLS Beneath the surface of many races there lies a story that sometimes transcends what just took place on the racetrack, a story within a story that speaks more about humanity than about horses. Take Friday night’s fifth race, a five-furlong maiden sprint on the turf, nine horses vying for the first win […]
Bozo’s Place In Racing
From the time Canterbury Downs opened in 1985, a man who goes by the name of Bozo has been attending the track to place bets and make new friends “nearly every weekend” since, he says. After first getting a glimpse of the Triple Crown races in his childhood, then discovering live racing, Bozo says he […]
Difficult But Doable Double
By Noah Joseph In the history of Canterbury, only two horses have won the biggest race for three-year-olds (originally the Saint Paul Derby, and now the Mystic Lake Derby) in one year, and then have gone on to win biggest race for older horses (originally the Canterbury Cup, and now the Mystic Lake Mile) the […]
Patrick Mooney: From Walking Horses to Owning One
By Rebecca Roush Making the decision to purchase a racehorse doesn’t always come easy, but for Patrick Mooney it was a dream of his since he watched his first race from the winner’s circle at Canterbury Downs. At the age of sixteen Mooney would make the drive each day from Young America to the track […]
Cristian Esqueda Leads The Way On The Qs
By Rebecca Roush Leading quarter horse rider at Canterbury Park, Cristian Esqueda, grew up watching his father ride and train the Q’s. “I felt like I had big shoes to fill,” he said. At just 10-years-old Esqueda moved to Ohio with his family from Aguascalientes City, Mexico. Around the age of 13 Esqueda took a […]
Zoes Sassy Miracle Fastest in NCQHRA Futurity Trials
Four trials were held today for 350-yard $45,000 North Central Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity final that will be run August 11. Zoes Sassy Miracle was the fastest qualifier, covering the distance in 17.699 for trainer Mark Barnes. Leading Q trainer Jason Olmstead will saddle five of the 10 two-year-olds that qualified. Robert Johnson qualified […]