Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., closed its already disappointing race meet on Saturday on a chaotic note, with the final 10 races of the card canceled due to riders’ concerns over the condition of the track and a snafu affecting payouts for a pick four. Canterbury had a 13-race card scheduled for its closing night, but riders began expressing concerns about the main track prior to the card starting, following heavy rains on Friday and earlier on Saturday. The first two races were run on the turf, as scheduled, and, at the riders’ insistence, the third race, originally scheduled for six furlong on the dirt, was moved to the turf at five furlongs. Following the running of that race, jockeys refused to ride the remainder of the card, and management made the decision to cancel. The surface change in the third race and the cancellation of the fourth race required the early pick four to pay out on the first two winners and then “all” and “all” in the third and the fourth race. The pick four pool had a $32,000 carryover in it, but “for some reason that we are still trying to figure out,” the payouts for the wager did not include the carryover, according to Jeff Maday, the media relations manager for the track. Maday said that the track has since worked with account-wagering companies to “rectify” the mistake, which resulted in a $1.84 underpayment per 50-cent ticket. According to the chart of the third race, the pick four paid $12.70 after an additional $209,100 was bet into the pool on race day.  :: Bet the races with a $250 First Deposit Match + $10 Free Bet and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. “As far as I can tell everyone has been paid out who made the bet through an ADW,” Maday said. “We are still working it out for the on-track customers.” The final day’s problems were perversely appropriate for a meet that failed to find its footing in the face of a sharp reduction in total races and field size. According to figures provided by the track, total handle for the 53-day mixed meet was $47.06 million, less than half of what was bet, in total, during a 64-day mixed meet last year. With 28 percent fewer races run this year than last year, the per-race average handle dropped 33 percent. The average Thoroughbred field size dropped nearly a full horse compared to last year, from 7.31 horses per race to 6.49 horses per race, according to the track. The average purse for a Thoroughbred race declined 11 percent, to $23,673. Still, attendance at the track posted gains, with an average of 4,929, up 16 percent compared to last year. On-track handle, on a per-race basis, was up 11 percent. The leading Thoroughbred rider at the meet was Harry Hernandez, with 51 wins. The leading Thoroughbred trainer was Joel Berndt, with 52 wins. The leading owner was Lothenbach Stables, with 48 wins. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.