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Scheckel Knows How To Make A Shekel

BY JIM WELLS One of his trainers sizes it up simply as a numbers game. Or in metaphorical terms, if you shoot a lot of bullets you’re apt to hit the bulls-eye sometimes. There is more to the analysis than that, however, because Thomas J. Scheckel has been a horseman for as long as he […]

Zoes Sassy Miracle Fastest in NCQHRA Futurity Trials

Four trials were held today for 350-yard $45,000 North Central Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity final that will be run August 11. Zoes Sassy Miracle was the fastest qualifier, covering the distance in 17.699 for trainer Mark Barnes. Leading Q trainer Jason Olmstead will saddle five of the 10 two-year-olds that qualified. Robert Johnson qualified […]

A Win For A Minnesota Horse, Sports Fans

By Jim Wells Call it a flicker of hope, a spark in the ash of the campfire, a glimmer of light in a sea of darkness. Minnesotans were given a reason to raise their heads and applaud again on Sunday. At a sporting event. Just like that, the doubting Thomases of sportsdom stood and feted […]

A Small Package With Big Ambition

BY JIM WELLS It isn’t necessarily a sore spot but at some level she must grow weary every now and then when someone refers to her height. She’s been hearing it her entire life, grade school, high school and now in her professional career. Many of us might have lashed out by now after being […]

Northlands Brings Out The Best

By Jim Wells You’ve heard the advice in various forms and probably a couple of hundred times over the years….. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, diversify your investments…axioms that have worn thin, lost some of their influence simply through repetition over time. Sometimes, though, you don’t have a choice. Take the […]

Painted Dynasty Fastest Qualifier for Gopher State Derby

Painted Dynasty, trained by Jason Olmstead and ridden by Ry Eikleberry, was the fastest qualifier from three 400-yard trials held today. The final will be held June 9 with a purse of $34,150. QUALIFIERS Painted Dynasty        Olmstead 20.18 Marfilmio                 Hanson 20.22 First of 15    […]

Canterbury Flavor In Prairie Meadows Stakes This Weekend

start of Northlands

The Prairie Meadows quarter horse meet closes this week with racing Thursday through Saturday. The Friday card features four stakes races and Saturday’s evening program has nine including the Grade 1 Bank of America Challenge Championship with a $330,000 purse. Many of the stakes include horses that raced in Shakopee over the summer.  The Grade […]

STATE STARS SHINE ON FESTIVAL DAY

Mr. Jagermeister

BY JIM WELLS Steamy, muggy, humid. Or as mother used to say, “close.” Under those conditions, Canterbury Park conducted the 24th running of the Festival of Champions Sunday, an afternoon of racing restricted to Minnesota-bred horses and highlighted by a sensational two-year-old, a pair of full brothers who won the two quarter horse races, the […]

Eagle Deluxe Wins $52,600 NCQHRA Futurity

Eagle Deluxe won the $52,600 North Central Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity on Sunday at Canterbury Park. The 2-year-old quarter horse colt is trained by Jason Olmstead, who has now won this race each of the last four years. Berkley Packer was aboard the longshot that returned $25.00 to win in the nine-horse field. He […]

Mystic Lake Northlands Futurity Offers Record Purse

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by Katie Merritt The 6th race on Sunday is the 350 yard, $167,600 Mystic Lakes Northlands Futurity, the last of six Quarter Horse races on the card and the richest Quarter Horse race to ever be run at Canterbury Park or Downs dating back to the inaugural edition in 1986. The eight fillies and two […]