Canterbury Park kicks off richest meet in track history

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Canterbury Park opens its richest meet ever Friday night, with 70 live dates scheduled through Sept. 12. The meet will offer more than $13 million in purses for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, making it the richest meet in Minnesota history.

Since Canterbury Park entered into a 2012 agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the owners of the nearby Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, horse racing has flourished as a result of increased purses and greater participation.

Jockeys Dean Butler, Ry Eikleberry, and Alex Canchari are expected to renew their rivalry at the top of the standings. Butler emerged as last year’s leading jockey with 63 wins and $1,386,030 in earnings. The trio will again be joined by the veterans Eddie Martin Jr. and Justin Shepherd, who is two wins shy of 1,000 for his career. Leandro Goncalves, who has ridden with great success in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, and Louisiana in recent years, has moved his tack here for the first time and should make an impact.

Perennial leading trainers Mac Robertson, Robertino Diodoro, Bernell Rhone, Gary Scherer, and Mike Biehler have primed their stock for the meet and can be found in Friday’s entries. Robertson’s 2014 runners here collected a meet-leading $1,280,042, and Diodoro’s 50 wins topped the trainers’ standings. Trainer Tom Amoss, attracted by the purse structure and the ability to race on both dirt and turf, will keep a string here for the first time.

The highlight of the stakes calendar is the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby, an one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds on Aug. 29. A pair of $100,000 turf races, the Lady Canterbury and Mystic Lake Mile, both one-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and older, are scheduled for July 11. The Minnesota-breds take their turn Sept. 6, when there are four $60,000 stakes races restricted for their participation.