Canterbury reports gain in handle for 2018 meet

Canterbury Park lost starters but gained handle during a 69-day mixed-breed race meet that ended Sept. 15.

Average starters per race declined to 7.6 in 668 races this season from 8.05 in 648 races during a 67-day meeting in 2017. Handle, however, was up across the board. All-sources average daily handle, according to business figures provided by Canterbury, was $697,720 this year, up 7 percent from $651,830 last year. Average handle per race rose 7.1 percent to $72,178 from $67,397, while average handle per betting interest increased 13 percent to $11,322 from $10,017.

One full race day was canceled because of weather this season and two partial cards were lost. There was just one partial cancellation in 2017.

There were 560 Thoroughbred races and 107 Quarter Horse races this season compared to 543 and 105 last year. Canterbury ran 161 turf races during the 2018 meet and 150 in 2017.

Canterbury paid $15,231,235 in purses during the 2018 meeting, $13,849,395 last year. The pace of claiming increased dramatically, from 68 last season to 127 this meet, despite 18 fewer claiming races being run in 2018.

Average daily attendance decreased marginally, from 6,585 to 6,506.

Mac Robertson and Robertino Diodoro threw the full weight of their sizable Canterbury stables into the final week’s racing trying to capture the training title – and the race ended in a 57-win tie. Ry Eikelberry, who hadn’t been based at Canterbury since 2015, led the jockey standings with 87 wins, eight more than Orlando Mojica. Novogratz Racing, whose horses are with Robertson, and Charles Garvey, who uses Diodoro, tied for leading owner with 15 wins.

Mr. Jagermeister finished 10th in the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby but won four Minnesota-bred stakes by 29 combined lengths as the most successful horse of the meeting.