Tuesday’s 12-race program is strictly quarter horses. Ninety-four have been entered. The wagering menu is expansive and includes an all-stakes pick four in races 5 – 8. Trainer Vic Hanson is well represented in all four races. He has been at this game for quite a while, experienced the ups and downs, and is ready for the action. Hanson is the fifth leading trainer by wins in Canterbury history and sixth by purse money won.
Race 5 is the Canterbury Park Quarter Horse Derby. Hanson trains Hr Storm On In, the third fastest qualifier, a head and a nose behind the top two. The colt draws the rail, same as he did in the qualifying trial. “I was disappointed,” Hanson said of the one post position which has not yielded many winners this summer. “He’s been inside all summer long.” Yet he expects the horse, who has won three of eight local starts, to be competitive.
Race 6 is the $86,900 Mystic Lake Northlands Futurity at 350 yards. Hanson will saddle the fastest qualifier and 5 to 2 morning line favorite Jess One Lane. This 2-year-old debuted in April at Remington Park but got knocked around and finished seventh of 10. He laid up until June where he was a convincing one-length trial winner. So convincing that the colt went favored in the MQHRA Futurity final. He broke sharply but made a costly cut to the inside and was beaten three-quarters of a length. “He drifted to the rail and that was that,” Hanson said. On Tuesday he will break from post nine. “That’s new country for him. Hopefully he likes it out there. He’s good. He came back good [from the trial].”
Pritty Too took a lot of wagering money in her Northlands trial but just did not fire. The sixth place finish relegated her to the consolation race, Tuesday’s 7th, the Northlands Juvenile with a $20,000 purse. The filly debuted with style in April at Remington, winning by two lengths in snappy fashion. Her next start there was not good and she required time off. Anything close to that debut would have been competitive. It did not turn out that way.
“I thought she would win,” Hanson said. “These young fillies sometimes need to get the mental part before the physical part takes hold again.” Pritty Too drew the outside post.
The 8th race is the 1889 Futurity, restricted to 2-year-olds bred in North or South Dakota. Easter Eve Bug is the Hanson entry in the 10-horse field. She ran a huge effort in her MQHRA Futurity trial after hopping at the start and getting bumped around. She managed a second and qualified. Hanson liked her chances there and thought she might even outrun Jess One Lane that night. She finished sixth with no pop.
“I expected her to run really well,” he said. “Maybe she burned up some of the gas with that late break. She ran past a lot of horses to finish second. Maybe that took extra gas out of the tank.” She has been off now since July 7, plenty of time to refill that tank.
Ismael Suarez Ricardo has the mount on all four Hanson runners in the stakes. Racing action begins at 4:35 p.m. Tickets are available online.
