Race of the Week: The Finale
As the meet draws to a close for 2013, a marathon on the turf has been drawn up as the tenth race on Saturday evening. Why is this claimer the race of the week? Because it’s such a rarity at Canterbury that more often than not, the favorite misses the mark. Front runners have a […]
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 […]
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 […]
Goebels Honored
The humidity draped over Shakopee Saturday afternoon like a damp garment clinging to every available inch of a person’s torso, making it difficult to breathe, think clearly or drink more than two or three cups of hot coffee at a time. How to describe such a day? The term ‘oppressive’ comes to mind. Or how […]
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 […]
Race of the Week: MN HBPA Distaff
Saturday is a special event with many special people involved. Let us not forget that while the stakes racing is contentious (as it has been all year), the survivors and their supporters are also the stars of the show. This year’s renewal of the HBPA Distaff is a compact group with one glaring characteristic – […]
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 […]
2013 Derby Day Nears
Occasionally she’ll think about the race and the biggest win of her career, the stuff of warm feelings and pleasant thoughts, except for that interminable wait. “It was intense, wasn’t it though,” says Lori Keith. The subject at hand, of course, is the inaugural Mystic Lake Derby first held in 2012 and Keith’s controversial win […]