Mr. Jagermeister the star of card for Minnesota-breds

Mr. Jagermeister and Mr. Robertson are the main attractions on a Sunday afternoon of Minnesota-bred racing at Canterbury Park.

Mr. Jagermeister, who might end up the best Minnesota-bred ever, stands a strong chance of ending his 3-year-old campaign on a high note when he starts as an overwhelming favorite in the $75,000 Minnesota Classic Championship.

Valorie Lund trains Mr. Jagermeister, but the trainer in line for a very rewarding afternoon is Mac Robertson, who entered horses in seven races and has runners in four of the six Thoroughbred stakes on the card, which begins with a pair of Quarter Horse races.

Robertson has two entrants, True West and Herbie, in the Minnesota Classic Championship, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race, but if form holds, they are mere fodder for further Mr. Jagermeister highlight reels.

Mr. Jagermeister has crushed all comers in his six Minnesota-bred starts and demonstrated last month he could race as effectively around two turns as he had in sprints. Relaxing on the lead in the Minnesota Derby, Mr. Jagermeister won by 10 lengths, just missed the track record for one mile and 70 yards, and got a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure. Lund, even with a sprint stakes on the Sunday menu, decided to keep Mr. Jagermeister at two turns.

“Now that I got him stretched out in that last race, I’m interested in keeping him going long,” Lund said. “He’s fast enough to sprint, but, quite frankly, routers will last longer than sprinters.”

Lund has it in mind that Mr. Jagermeister, a son of Atta Boy Roy – who took Lund to the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint – will last a good, long while. She decided several weeks ago that though her horse has matured considerably over the summer and “just continues to blossom before my eyes,” Sunday’s race will be his final start at age 3. When Lund ships her stable to Arizona later this month, she’ll send Mr. Jagermeister to a paddock at the WW Ranch in Carefree, Ariz., for two or three months of farm rest before gearing him up for what she hopes can be a blockbuster 4-year-old campaign.

In the short term, Mr. Jagermeister looks like a blockbuster favorite in the eighth race Sunday at Canterbury.

Good group in Futurity

Robertson and the Novogratz Racing Stable had the best 2-year-old at Canterbury, Amy’s Challenge, during the 2017 season. They might have the best one again this year.

Mister Banjoman’s lone start didn’t produce a performance in Amy’s Challenge’s class, but that filly was a 2-year-old freak – and Mister Banjoman is a Minnesota-bred. Sunday’s $100,000 Northern Lights Futurity came up tough for a Minnesota-bred stakes, but Mister Banjoman should take plenty of beating.

By Maclean’s Music, Mister Banjoman cost $200,000 at a yearling auction, and from the impression he made Aug. 16 in a Minnesota-bred maiden race, one can see why. Mister Banjoman broke sharply and showed good speed in making the lead while not traveling like a one-dimensional speedball.

Always in hand for jockey Dean Butler, he drew off to win by more than five lengths in a 4 1/2-furlong race while looking, both in scope and responsiveness, like Sunday’s six-furlong trip would fall well within his range.

Mister Banjoman is listed at 5-2 on Canterbury’s morning line and would be worth playing in the unlikely event he goes to post close to that price. His main rival is Dame Plata, an easy debut winner who returned to comfortably capture a Minnesota-bred sales stakes over Northern Lights entrant Notte Oscura.

The Futurity is carded as race 5 and immediately follows the $100,000 Northern Lights Debutante, a filly race that lacks the Futurity’s quality. Butler, though, has found his way onto another very live chance in Dangerous Wave, who finished a solid second in her debut before returning with a decisive Minnesota-bred maiden win. Dangerous Wave breaks from post 2, an improvement over her first two races, where she broke from the fence. Her main foe appears to be the filly who beat her first time out, Greatest Gal.

Hot Shot Kid cuts back

With Mr. Jagermeister racing two turns on Sunday, Hot Shot Kid is cut back from routes to start in the six-furlong Minnesota Sprint Championship.

Hot Shot Kid, who hails from the Robertson barn, has raced two turns in three of his last four starts, but is perfectly comfortable sprinting. A five-time Canterbury dirt winner never worse than second in seven local main-track starts, Hot Shot Kid would offer a touch of value if, as the morning-line forecasts, he’s the second choice behind Mines Made Up.

Trainer Karl Broberg claimed Mines Made Up for a mere $7,500 in June and got a career-best performance out of the horse Aug. 2, when he won a Canterbury allowance race by more than 10 lengths and got a career-best 92 Beyer. Whether he can come close to repeating that performance is another question.

◗ The Robertson-trained Honey’s Sox Appeal will be a short priced-favorite to win the $75,000 Minnesota Distaff Sprint Championship for the second year in a row.

The filly-mare dash goes as race 10 and is followed by the last of the stakes, the $75,000 Minnesota Distaff Classic Championship over 1 1/16 miles. Pinup Girl and Double Bee Sting are the principles here, and Pinup Girl has at this point solidly shown her superiority as a two-turn dirt horse.