The Brew Crew relay team arrived at Canterbury Park ready to win the Indian Horse Relay Championship. The mile distance of the Shakopee racetrack was difficult for many of the teams accustomed to racing in bullrings at much shorter distances. Brew Crew won the title in 2018 and knew the type of horse needed to win on the larger oval. And that is exactly what they brought. Their horses never tired.
Brew Crew won their qualifying heats on Tuesday and Wednesday, with rider Tyler Cottier making effortless exchanges bounding from horse to horse on each pass of the grandstand. The Brew Crew team worked in unison; the mugger and set-up man performing flawlessly.
Had there been a morning line for the championship on Thursday, Brew Crew would have been
the prohibitive favorite. They did not disappoint. The team won easily with Abrahamson Relay in second.
The team of four consists of Cottier, mugger Loren Ecoffey, set-up man Stanley Brewer Jr. and backholder Bill Long Turkey. The team represents the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe of South Dakota.
They will celebrate tonight and then head to Grand Island and Fonner Park which will conduct relay racing for the first time at the Nebraska State Fair.
