Canterbury season handle climbs 7 percent, sets record

Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., experienced a more than 9 percent increase in average daily handle during its 64-date meet that closed Saturday night.

Canterbury handled an average $1,525,250 a card this season, according to a press release from the track. Canterbury brought back Saturday racing for the first time since 2019. The track’s total handle of $97,615,998 for the season was up 7 percent over last year and ranks as a record for Canterbury.

Canterbury’s meet includes races for both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.

Bob Lothenbach won the Thoroughbred owner title and set records for both wins and purse earnings for Canterbury, with 55 victories and $1.5 million stable earnings. He is the owner of Midnight Current, who won five consecutive races at the meet, including two stakes, to be named Canterbury’s horse of the meet for 2022. Overall, the filly is riding a six-win streak.

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Mac Robertson, who has won 14 training titles at Canterbury, finished in a tie with Joel Berndt for the 2022 title. The battle for leading trainer went to the final card of the meet, with both horsemen winning a race on the program to bring their total to 61 victories each this season at Canterbury.

Harry Hernandez won the Thoroughbred riding title with 79 wins.

Canterbury reported record purses of $15.7 million were paid out for the season, up 1 percent from 2021 when 12 less races were conducted. Canterbury was scheduled for 65 dates this meet, but lost one card and a partial program. The field size averaged 7.3 starters per race, which was on par with 2021.

Edwin Escobedo won the Quarter Horse riding title and Jason Olmstead won his eighth consecutive Quarter Horse training title. The leading owner title for the breed ended in a tie between Tom Maher and Lunderborg LLC.

Jockey Ry Eikleberry retired from race riding Saturday night, and won four races on the final card of the meet, which boasted 13 races. Eikleberry had three straight victories in the middle of the card, and also won the final race of the meet. Handle for Saturday night’s card that featured two stakes was $2.3 million.