Let’s Talk About Success
By Mari Ballinger One week. Two racetracks. 24 races. 11 wins. Those kind of statistics can only belong to one jockey, and that is Orlando Mojica. On August 4, 2019 Mojica raced at Canterbury Park, finishing first aboard Unfailing in a claiming race. Hours later, he was on a flight to Canada to race at […]
Robertson, Mojica Shine On A Cloudy Day
BY JIM WELLS There is a new way, other than cloud seeding, to open the heavens and guarantee that rains will follow. Canterbury Park simply needs to plan something special. This could become an added revenue source for the Shakopee track. Nearby farmers need their crops watered ? Canterbury can guarantee it by simply planning […]
Mojica Having Magical Summer
BY JIM WELLS Orlando Mojica seldom changes expressions, seemingly focused on the task at hand, frequently an upcoming race on a horse he will shortly ride out of the paddock. He changes little afterward either, on the way back to the jockeys’ lounge, win or lose, his mind already refocusing on what awaits, at the […]
Trainer, Owner Races Nip and Tuck
BY JIM WELLS The autumnal atmosphere that settled over Shakopee on Saturday hinted at a variety of things immediately ahead, none more pressing to the riders and horsemen than closing day. There are travel plans to be completed, respites to be taken and, for some, immediate hookups with trainers and agents where needed after the […]
Wings Locked Up Wins Stake
BY JIM WELLS The shortest distance between two points is indisputably a straight line. But the swiftest trip isn’t always so. Sometimes an adjustment makes up the difference. Take Wings Locked Up on Saturday afternoon, breaking from the No. 6 hole in the $50,000 Honor the Hero Stakes at (about) five furlongs on the turf. […]
ALL HATS OFF TO THE DERBY
By JIM WELLS There are idioms galore in our language that explain the many uses of a hat, that item someone wears upon the head for effect, protocol or simply to keep the rain from drenching one’s skull. You can keep something under one’s hat if you want to keep a secret. You might come […]
A MEMORABLE WEEKEND FOR LOVEBERRY
BY JIM WELLS No matter how long you’ve been at an endeavor, there is always a first time for something, for just about everybody. Take Hall of Fame trainer Dave Van Winkle, who’s left his mark just about any place his horses have left tracks in Shakopee over the past three decades. His entry in […]
TITLES ON THE LINE AS 17 RACING DAYS REMAIN
BY JIM WELLS Update: Only 17 racing days left on the 2017 calendar. A mere two weeks of race days and change. Plenty of time for trainers to begin cleaning out their barns, sending out the horses that need a paycheck to cover their travel costs. Still time for others to achieve some unreached goals, […]
EXTREME DAY A WILD, WOOLY, FEATHERY AFFAIR
BY JIM WELLS It has been proposed once before and this additional suggestion is not based on settled science but on mounting evidence: Canterbury should consider running a 67-day meet featuring ostrich, zebra and camel racing each year, mixing in a thoroughbred/quarter horse day here and there. Evidence suggests that would reverse what is now […]
TEDDY TIME, SOME SAY SO STAKES WINNERS
BY JIM WELLS We have the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost in the attic, the spirit of Canterbury’s past…and now, as it turned out Monday night, the apparitions of Vikings then and now. Monday’s race card included two stakes named for horses that left that mark on racing history in Shakopee, the swift […]
