Hafner Wraps Up 2021 Canterbury Handicapper of the Year
Ron Hafner told himself the morning of December 18 that he was going to win that day’s NHC Last Chance Qualifier Contest in the Canterbury Racebook. Premonition, coincidence, luck; call it what you will, but it happened. Hafner finished first, won a trip to the January $3 million National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas, and […]
Canterbury Park 2022 Racing Dates Receive Minnesota Racing Commission Approval
65-day Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet to run May 18 through Sept. 17 Canterbury Park’s request for a 65-day 2022 thoroughbred and quarter horse racing season, Wednesday, May 18 through Saturday, Sept. 17, was unanimously approved Thursday by the Minnesota Racing Commission. The Shakopee, Minn. racetrack will conduct a Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday schedule with […]
New Traditions Turn Amsoil Championship Snocross Towards 2022
National series opens at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn. AMSOIL Championship Snocross saw several major changes last season as the pandemic caused the series to move away from its traditional schedule and find new stomping grounds for its 17-race national championship. The 2022 version, which begins Jan. 7 and 8 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, […]
Successful Canterbury Racing Season Concludes This Week
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday programs feature 326 horses in 34 races Canterbury Park’s 65-day racing season comes to an end with 5 p.m. programs Tuesday and Wednesday and a 4 p.m., 13-race program Thursday. General admission will be free the final three days as part of fan appreciation week to cap a season that began with […]
Plana Dance: Out Of This World
By Noah Joseph When horse racing returned to Minnesota in 1995, many faces from the Canterbury Downs days returned to Shakopee. Two of those people were Marlene Colvin and her husband, the late Robert Colvin, who was nicknamed Bun. They had made history in their own right in 1985, as their Sultan’s Gold was third […]
Love the Nest Impressive in $100k Northern Lights Futurity
Jockey Eikleberry wins twice on MN Festival of Champions Night Love the Nest, a 2-year-old colt trained by Joel Berndt and owned by Robert Lothenbach, powered to an impressive 7 1/4 length victory in Wednesday’s Northern Lights Futurity, one of six $100,000 statebred thoroughbred stakes on Minnesota Festival of Champions Night at Canterbury Park. Love […]
The Important Origin of The Festival
Wednesday is the 28th Minnesota Festival of Champions, a night we celebrate the best of the statebred racehorses. Hall of Fame newspaper reporter Jim Wells died in 2019, but his stories remain for us to enjoy. Here is a recounting written by Jim many years ago, detailing the 1992 origins of the Festival. by Jim […]
State’s Best Horses Race Wednesday in MN Festival of Champions
12-race program with $850k in purses begins at 4:10 p.m. Minnesota’s top thoroughbreds and quarter horses will race Wednesday at Canterbury Park in the 28th Minnesota Festival of Champions. The 12-race card, restricted to horses bred in the state, includes six $100,000 stakes and will pay a total of $852,450 in purses. First post is […]
Stakes in Festival of Champions Honor Four Exceptional MN-Breds
by Dave Valento Canterbury Park’s Festival of Champions has always been one of the most popular racing days on the calendar at the Shakopee oval. It brings together the top Minnesota-breds in highly anticipated match-ups at various surfaces and distances. The 2021 version is scheduled for Wednesday, September 8th. Four of the stakes races on […]
Prep In Her Step
By Noah Joseph In the early years of racing in Minnesota, few horses received more attention and praise than Hoist Her Flag. There was a good reason for such attention, for she was a constant winner on the track. An 11-time stakes winner, she often beat the best horses at Canterbury. During that time, she […]