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 […]
Heliskier Rose To The Top
by Jim Wells They purchased the land 50 years ago and at various times it teemed with horses, but now when she looks out the back door there is only one. He is lord of a spacious paddock and moves slowly from place to place, grazing as he does, easy-going and amiable as always in […]
2013 Meet Closes with Significant Increases
Canterbury Park’s 69-day racing season, the longest since 2006, concluded on September 14 with gains in average handle and attendance. Off-track wagering, dollars bet on Canterbury races at other tracks and through internet sites, increased by 46.7 percent while average daily on-track wagering was up 4.8 percent. Average daily attendance was 6,656, a Canterbury Park […]
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 […]
Heliskier Back on His Game
Horse racing has more than its share of stories that tug at the heartstrings, bring tears to your eyes and leave otherwise stout human beings weak in the knees. It doesn’t take million dollar colts and fillies or regally-bred champions, either. When you’ve invested much of what you have – even in an expensive claimer – […]
14,455 Enjoy Father’s Day Card
There is nothing like horse racing for destroying a person’s spirit one instant and then restoring it a few minutes later. These are the vicissitudes of a sport that can present more ups and downs, more highs and lows, than the Wild thing at Valley Fair. You can be a dejected loser one moment and an […]
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 […]
Heliskier Returns Saturday
Just how good is Heliskier? We could find out in Saturday’s seventh race, the $50,000 10,000 Lakes Stakes, perhaps his toughest test ever. Heliskier is trained by Canterbury’s perennial leading conditioner Mac Robertson. As a two year old, Heliskier broke his maiden in hand and galloped on the Northern Lights Futurity field, winning by 10 […]
Heliskier Does it Again… Just as Impressively
There are numerous sorts of intoxicating, maybe even medicinal qualities attached to the phenomenon of winning. For Marlene Colvin, it might have meant a good night’s sleep Sunday night. For Cam Casby, it might have provided the perfect remedy for the summer cold she’s battling. Clearly, winning as he did polished the already shiny image […]
Two of a Kind?
Heliskier has been dominant in all four career starts, sparking conversation about how good he might be compared to other Minnesota-breds in recent history. The name that immediately is mentioned in comparison is Crocrock (pictured above). While it would be premature to compare Heliskier at this point to the accomplishments of the great Crocrock, the […]
