Chya Johnstone – Outrider
Chya Johnstone was a jockey before becoming an outrider, and she was retraining and rehoming racehorses while racing. Working with the Retired Racehorse Projectv. She has found a new home for over 100 retired racehorses and loves working with horses. Learn her story here:
One For The Road
By Noah Joseph The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting cooler, and the leaves are changing colors. The signs of autumn are among us, and with it come the final days of racing at Canterbury Park. It’s always a difficult time when the season ends, especially when the track had a year full […]
Odds and Ends from Festival and Final Three Race Days To Come
The 12-race Minnesota Festival of Champions card on Saturday night attracted $2,446,940 in handle, a record for the Festival which has been conducted 29 times. The previous Festival handle record was the 2020 total of $2,048,915. Saturday’s handle is the fourth largest of the 2022 season. Owner/breeder Bob Lothenbach took center stage throughout the evening […]
Lothenbach Wins Four Festival of Champions Stakes
12-race program handles Festival record $2,446,940 Canterbury Park’s Saturday 12-race Minnesota Festival of Champions program was a celebration of Minnesota-bred racehorses and their owners and breeders. Horses owned by Robert Lothenbach of Wayzata, Minn. won four of the six $100,000 thoroughbred races and also won a $36,000 allowance. Joel Berndt trained all Lothenbach winners. The […]
Life Is A Highway
By Noah Joseph A horse’s career is like a road. Sometimes it’s a short, simple road, other times it’s a long, almost never-ending highway. There are plenty of bumps, turns, and detours to go along with them. But sometimes the road less traveled may lead to a most welcome and unexpected destination. At Canterbury, that […]
Alexa Gerstel – Jockey’s Agent
Alexa Gerstel is a new jockey’s agent this summer and is enjoying it. She has normally worked directly with the horses in the barn, but she likes the change of pace as a jockey’s agent. Representing new Canterbury Park Jockey Zeke Lara, Alexa says that it is sometimes difficult “being the new kids in town,” […]
Bill Kroska – Owner
Bill Kroska got involved in horse racing with Tammy Domenosky in 2007. He learned more about racing at Canterbury CollegE and had early success with Moralist. Bill is a part of the Miracle Logistics Inc. ownership group and still enjoys owning horses and watching them race. Learn more about Bill here!
Minnesota HBPA Groom of the Week – Juan Carlos Lopez
Juan Carlos Lopez has been with trainer Mac Robertson for 20 years. “I don’t know how he does it,” says Robertson, the winningest trainer in the history of Canterbury Park. “How he does this massive amount of work and so well. I would never have won 1,000 races at Canterbury without Juan Carlos.” Congratulations Juan […]
Festival of Champions at Canterbury Park will crown best Minnesota breds
-$855,000 in purses to be distributed in 12-race card- Entries for the 29th Minnesota Festival of Champions, a night of racing on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Canterbury Park restricted to thoroughbreds and quarter horses bred in the state, attracted a total of 107 horses for 12 races. Owners, jockeys and trainers of those entrants will […]
Sabre Wrangler – First Quarter Horse Winner at Canterbury
The date was September 3, 1986. What was then Canterbury Downs, in its second year of existence, carded its first American Quarter Horse race, the distance 400 yards. The winner was Pennsylvania-bred Sabre Wrangler, ridden by Roger Ward, trained by Mark Sellers for owner James H. Olson, in a final time of 21.44 seconds. Olson […]