2013 Festival Records & Repeats
The Festival of Champions has always been, from Day One, one of the best days of the race meet in Shakopee. Crowds, enthusiasm and competitive races are the order of the occasion. The Festival annually is one of the grandest days of the summer, including Sunday’s rendition that drew a crowd of 15,023 and record-setting off-track […]
Charette-Hill Claims QH Title
Maybe someone will give Stacy Charette-Hill a dictionary for Christmas or another upcoming occasion appropriate for gift-giving. She sure could use one. She has simply run out of adjectives. Charette-Hill, the top quarter horse trainer in Shakopee this meet, repeatedly falls short of ways to describe what she thinks of Canterbury Park and how she would […]
Race of the Week: MN Distaff Sprint
The Minnesota State Tournament of horse racing arrives this weekend each year, and after a summer that’s flown bye here we are. This day is not typically one to cash for obscene amounts of money but one to be enjoyed with the pride that Minnesota breeding is alive and well and will improve over the […]
A Little Shipping Money
Nothing signals the end of the summer any more definitively than the final days of the Minnesota State Fair and the sight of school buses not seen for the previous three months. Minnesotans are prepared for both eventualities in the coming days and will adjust their calendars and daily schedules accordingly. There is a different […]
Canchari Wins 5
Jockey races are often of more interest to the people who keep statistics and record the data on such things at racetracks. Riders, for their part, are more interested in staying healthy and collecting a healthy paycheck. But not entirely… The competitive side of any rider is apt to show when a title is on […]
Fillies Race for Hope
Pink hats, dresses, flowers, horses. Even little girls in pink wings. The starting gate was festooned in pink, and the scroll designating the type of race on the tote board television screen was the same color. It was Fillies Race for Hope day at Canterbury Park, an annual event to raise awareness and money for the support […]
Races Heat Up
Thursday’s card was the 51st of the meet. So, let’s see now, that means there are 18 racing days remaining in this, the 19th meeting since racing resumed in Shakopee after a two-year-shutdown, under the name Canterbury Park instead of Downs. Naturally, the focus on the leading rider, trainer and owner will draw increased scrutiny […]
Sunday Racing Musings
Once the obligations of winning such a race were attended to, once the handshakes, backslaps, hugs and nods of congratulation had been received, the interviews conducted and the rush of adrenaline subsided, there was time for family, close friends and the owners of the horse. Yes, there are duties concomitant with riding the winning horses […]
A Little Less Suspense
She took one look over her shoulder, gave her mount a stout reminder with the stick and cruised home, much the best in the biggest race of the season, the history of Canterbury Park for that matter. Everything unfolded much as it did last season, with one major exception. “No inquiry,” said the woman of […]
Mystic Lake Derby Day Nears
Go ahead and pick up the champagne, dig out the attire you wore last year for the race, careful to assure everything is the same, not a single accoutrement out-of-place, cross your fingers and don’t say anything that might be construed as a jinx. “My dad’s superstitious,” said Lori Keith. “It will have to be […]
