Pair of stakes top Extreme Day card

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Sunday should be a fun-filled day at Canterbury for both regulars and newcomers alike when the track hosts its second annual Extreme Day. The card will include a number of racing oddities, many of which proved successful last year when a large crowd turned out, including Canterbury jockeys and trainers competing in non-parimutuel ostrich and camel races.

The 11-race Extreme Day card also will feature a 100-yard event for Quarter Horses, several sprint races at the distance of 3 1/2 furlongs, and a 2 1/16-mile endurance contest. But the main event might very well be the Battle of the Surfaces, with females competing on the turf at the same time that a field of males competes at one mile on the main track. The first horse to cross the wire on either surface will be declared the winner for parimutuel purposes.

There also are two stakes on the card, including the $50,000 Brian Barenscheer Juvenile Stakes. A field of eight was drawn for the 5 1/2-furlong Barenscheer, but all eyes will be on Minnetonka Mist.

A winner by 9 3/4 lengths when making his debut here 10 days ago, Minnetonka Mist earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure, which should garner him favoritism in this contest. Owned by Connie Phillips and trained by David Van Winkle, Minnetonka Mist is a California-bred Benchmark colt bred by Pam and Marty Wygod. Van Winkle has named fellow Canterbury Park Hall of Famer Scott Stevens to ride.

Trainer Tom Amoss ships Proud Jefe to Canterbury Park for the Barenscheer. A front-running winner in his second start at Churchill Downs last month, Proud Jefe will be ridden by Paul Nolan.

The second stakes on the card is the $50,000 John Bullit, which will feature seven older runners in a 1 1/16-mile turf contest. The Bullit field includes two familiar foes in Prospective Kiss and Heza Wild Guy, who each captured stakes in their last appearances.

Prospective Kiss would be 3 for 3 at this meeting, if not for a nose loss to Tytus in the Shot of Gold Stakes here opening weekend. A 7-year-old gelding trained by Mac Robertson, Prospective Kiss returned from that effort to narrowly prevail over Heza Wild Guy in an allowance test, then captured the Brooks Fields Stakes last month when that race was transferred to the main track due to heavy rains. Derek Bell has the assignment.

Heza Wild Guy finished third in the Brooks Fields but recovered his best form when returning to the turf to capture the A.J. Foyt Stakes at Indiana Downs two weeks ago. Trainer Bernell Rhone named Dean Butler to ride Heza Wild Guy in the absence of regular rider Jesse Garcia, who is currently sidelined with a back injury.

Three Arlington-based runners, Cape San Blas, Yankee Injunuity, and Tiganello, will ship in for the Bullit. Yankee Injunuity has won 4 of his last 5 starts and has produced his best form since switching to turf last November. Ramsey Zimmerman has the call.

Tiganello has the credentials to pull a mild upset in the Bullit. A winner of the Mister Gus Stakes at Arlington last summer, Tiganello was claimed for $62,500 in his first start of the season by trainer Hector Magana. Stevens is named to ride.