Jockey Race Tight Early
Lori Keith bounded out of the tunnel leading to the paddock Sunday afternoon and right past the No. 1 spot for her horse, Oughterson. “Hey, Lori, over here,” someone called. “I was distracted. He distracted me,” Keith said, pointing to a nearby interloper while gathering her wits. Keith is as focused as she’s ever been this spring, […]
A Very Gray Kinda (Month) Day
The fourth race on Saturday’s card summed up the afternoon and most of the meet this spring/summer/fall at the same time. Very, very gray. The race drew an 11-horse field that included four grays. Four grays in one race? When is the last time you’ve seen that? Racing operations analyst and tote board messiah Andrew Offerman […]
Cannonball Blows ‘Em Away
There was John Bullit, a horse enshrined in Canterbury Park’s Hall of Fame. There is the silver bullet, a shell capable of repelling a serious vampire threat, and there is the Human Bullet, aka David Smith, Jr., who soared 165 feet through the mist and premature gloaming Monday afternoon and into a net 20 feet […]
Heliskier Unbeaten Streak Hits 7
The sheen in his brown coat accents his muscular frame, and he stands out immediately from other horses around him. The unbeaten son of Appealing Skier truly is something to behold. There is not another horse on the grounds in this four-year-old gelding’s class. He is a man among boys, a giant among Lilliputians, a horse […]
Opening Night Elicits Excitement
The planets are back in the proper orbits, circling the heavens in their celestial splendor. The stock market will take off like a rocket in the coming days. Peace has come to this little corner of the world. Just like that, horse racing is back on the Minnesota sports and entertainment calendar. Under gray, wet, […]
More About the Mystic Lake Derby Inquiry
There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth over the result of the Mystic Lake Derby and the decision by the state stewards, horse racing’s referees, to not disqualify the winner Hammers Terror and place him behind Delegation. Those taking sides reside in a few different camps: The Hammers Terror people who are pleased […]
10,127 Watch Inaugural Mystic Lake Derby
There were employees, guests and dignitaries from Mystic Lake, ladies in wide-brimmed hats, bowls of chocolate-covered strawberries, just about everything except mint juleps Saturday afternoon for the biggest race in Shakopee since 1991. The occasion was the $161,250 Mystic Lake Derby at about a mile on the turf, and the grandstand was festooned with paraphernalia […]
Mystic Lake Derby Draws Field of Eight
The inaugural running of the $150,000 added Mystic Lake Derby on Saturday has drawn a field of eight including two participants that last raced at Woodbine Race Course, in Ontario, Canada and two others that made their most recent start at historic Churchill Downs. In total, the field is comprised of four shippers and four […]
Canterbury Trends & Statistics
The hot, humid summer continues and the Canterbury main track has consistently favored pure front-runners all year. The track bias for the last month shows dirt sprints and routes yielding wire-to-wire winners at a 45% clip, which is about double the national average. Even turf races are yielding 25% front running winners, which is about […]
Finally… They Have a Winner
Call it determination, commitment, resilience or just plain stubbornness but a horse named Sol Fire and her owners absolutely refused to throw in the towel – not when she lost her first five races, not when the number reached 10, not 15 not even 19. Imagine that, you’ve been racing for four years and have […]
