Canterbury Park’s opening night program featured a pair of $50,000 stakes at six furlongs restricted to Minnesota-breds, the 10,000 Lakes and the Lady Slipper. In the 10,000 Lakes, favorite Dame Plata and Thealligatorhunter battled down the stretch with a finish so close it took several minutes for the stewards, examining the photo finish, to determine the winner. In the end, the race resulted in a dead heat.
“I’ll take it. I’ll take it,” said Pete Mattson, co-owner of Thealligatorhunter with trainer Tim Padilla. Alonso Quinonez rode the 4-year-old.
Dame Plata was ridden by Ruben Fuentes for trainer Francisco Bravo and owners Ann Sachdev and Lori Bravo. Final time was 1:09.37. Dame Plata paid $2.40 and Thealligatorhunter returned $2.80.
Clickbait broke forwardly and cruised to victory in the Lady Slipper in stakes record time of 1:08.46 under Cecily Evans. The 6-year-old mare, trained by 14-time training champion Mac Robertson, is owned by Hugh Robertson, John Mentz and Jeff Larson. She crossed the wire 5 1/2 lengths clear of Ready to Runaway. As the favorite, Clickbait paid $3.80.
“She’s just a spectacular horse and everything she does, she does so easy,” Evans said of the mare who in winning this race in 2021 provided the jockey with her first career stakes victory.
The eight-race handle totaled $1,846,213. The weather cooperated as sun shone down on the large crowd of fans eager for the return of live racing.
