Canterbury Park posts big handle gains in 2020 season

Canterbury Park on Thursday night concluded a 2020 racing season simultaneously wildly successful and relatively meaningless to the track’s bottom line, with horse racing’s revenue distribution system at the heart of the paradox.

Despite racing 12 days fewer than planned, 53, and starting a month late due to COVID-19, Canterbury handled $68,388,504, more than $20 million more than it’s gross-handled record from 2018, which had a 66 day meet with 668 races that averaged 7.6 starters. The 2020 meet included 499 races averaging only 7.25 starters, yet average per-race handle increased 114 percent compared to the 2019 meeting.

Out-of-state handle on Canterbury races drove all the gains, rising 174 percent per race from 2019 to 2020, but because Canterbury’s business model has been based on good-sized crowds (the track’s 2019 average attendance was nearly 6,600) and ontrack handle, Canterbury’s 2020 racing-related revenue declined. Beyond ontrack concessions, bets made at Canterbury on Canterbury races return a far higher percentage of takeout to the track than do the out-of-state wagers that drove this year’s handle spike. Canterbury was permitted to host 750 spectators per card.

“The increase in exposure of our racing product and the national acceptance of it were encouraging,” vice president of racing Andrew Offerman said in a news release. “These offtrack gains helped us salvage a mostly successful season in the midst of a global pandemic.”

Jockey Francisco Arrieta swept the closing-night stakes, winning the $60,000 Shakopee Juvenile with Heart Full of Soul and the $60,000 Tom Mentzen HBPA Stakes with King of the Court, but it was Ry Eikelberry who claimed the jockey’s title with 74 wins. Joel Berndt captured his first training title with 45 winners, many of them for leading owner Lothenbach Stables.