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 […]
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 […]
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 – […]
Some Kinda Comeback
George Foreman did it, so did Brett Favre and Dara Torres, why not Roger Buening? We’re talking athletic comebacks and performances after the hair has turned gray or the calendar has turned past 40. Foreman won a world heavyweight title at 45, Favre fell a game short of the Super Bowl at 40 and Torres […]
Feel Good Story Caps Weekend
Feel good stories abound at any racetrack. Stories about horses winning with limited vision, maybe a single working eye. Stories about horses rebounding from near-death experiences with winning efforts, horses with names dedicated to a dying patron or trainer coming through in his memory. But how about this one: A husband-wife training team partnering up […]
Two of a Kind
They dressed for the wedding in the jockeys’ room, and then piled in the back of a pickup truck for the trip to the Turf Paradise garden where the ceremony was held. The men were duded up in western hats and jackets, the perfect ensemble for the place and setting. The bride stayed more traditional […]
