By Noah Joseph
One of the most recognizable silks at Canterbury Park in recent times has been blue silks with a red diamond cluster and red diamonds on the sleeves. Those are the silks of Bob Lothenbach, who races under Lothenbach Stables. Lothenbach Stables is a top owner of horses throughout the Midwest and parts of the East Coast. Lothenbach has owned and raced some top quality horses over the years at Canterbury. The two that come to mind only raced in Minnesota a couple of times, but both have made their mark in Minnesota racing history. They are Mister Marti Gras and Nun the Less.
If you were to look up the word consistent, you’d probably find a picture of Mister Marti Gras. The son of Belong to Me raced 58 times, winning 11 and finishing in the top three 32 times, and earning over $1 million in a career that spanned from 2009 to 2016. A four-time stakes winner, Canterbury fans will remember him as the winner of the inaugural Mystic Lake Mile in 2013. Mister Marti Gras took the one mile off the turf contest in 1:38 for Lothenbach, trainer Chris Block, and jockey Francisco Torres.
Nun the Less, at the time he came to Canterbury, was a horse that could perform well but just couldn’t do it when it counted. He won at the maiden and allowance levels as a two-year-old and allowance level as a three-year-old, but couldn’t win a stakes race no matter how hard he tried. He placed in many stakes, including graded stakes against the best grass three-year-olds of 2015, but he needed to find a race he could win. That race was the 2015 Mystic Lake Derby. Trainer Chris Block shipped the son of Candy Ride to Canterbury after a 3rd place finish in Chicago. Nun the Less, sent off as the 4-1 third choice, came from last to first with a burst of energy combined with a well-timed ride by Florent Geroux to take the richest race of the meeting. Nun The Less raced at Canterbury two more times last year, both in stakes, and finished 3rd both times. Nun the Less is still racing today, recently finishing 3rd at Arlington Park. Hopefully he will come back to Canterbury again.
This year at Canterbury, Lothenbach has five winners from nineteen starts, putting him 4th on the list of leading owners. He currently has the impressive maiden winner Diamondize; the Minnesota bred Mines Made Up, and last Friday, he won with Look Out Baby.
Noah Joseph is a longtime Canterbury Park and horse racing fan. He’s been attending races at Canterbury since 2000 when he was 3 years old and has enjoyed every minute of it. Noah provides a weekly piece on CanterburyLive.com.
