HALL OF FAMERS UNITE FOR FESTIVAL WIN
BY JIM WELLS People sitting nearby couldn’t make out the words, but when the rider change for Rockin the Bleu’s was announced, the nature of the fellow’s exclamation was unmistakable. He was clearly pleased, or as he later confirmed: “I was really excited.” That reaction by Jeff Hilger was to an announcement that Hall of […]
FESTIVAL EVOKES MEMORIES, RECENT AND PAST
It’s Truly Obvious by JIM WELLS Ask anyone for his or her favorite memory from the Festival of Champions and you will get any number of responses. For one person the day is remindful of a favorite horse, for another of a specific race, for still another of a certain year and for others […]
RAKE’N IT IN ON FESTIVAL DAY
If you weren’t there, you missed what arguably was the best card of the summer, taking into account the hoopla, number of thrilling finishes for big money and general pulse rate of the participants. It was not unlike a family reunion, uniting as it did folks from the far reaches of the state and in […]
FESTIVAL DAY MAKES LASTING MEMORIES FOR SOME
Festival Day. It means different things to different people, has enduring memories for some, forgettable ones for others. Correctly put, it is the Minnesota Festival of Champions, a day on which Minnesota owners and breeders trot out their best to determine how they stand up to others bred here, in the land of 10,000 Lakes. […]
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 […]
Festival Roots Run Deep
Many of the same people have been part of this from the start and still celebrate this annual toast to the Minnesota thoroughbred and quarter horse, an idea spawned when international corporate interests were intent on changing the shape of horse racing in Minnesota. The Minnesota Festival of Champions is an afternoon devoted exclusively to […]
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 […]
Record Crowd of 17,053 Enjoys 2012 Festival
The Festival of Champions began 20 years ago as a rebuke to track management at the time, as a demonstration by horsemen that the Ladbroke Corp.’s marketing strategies and ideas about live racing were wrong. They’ve been proving that nearly every year of live racing since, often most notably on Festival day, but never quite […]
Festival of Champions 2012: Sunny Days Ahead
It’s been twenty years since an unforgettable dark cloud hung over Canterbury Downs, a black funnel positioned to wipe out an entire industry and its primary place of business as well. Despite the hovering threat and very long odds of survival, horsemen saw a ray of hope. Nearly everyone expected a shutdown of this still […]
