Rhone sweeps Canterbury stakes

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Bernell Rhone swept the stakes at Canterbury Park on Sunday, winning the MTA Lassie and MTA Laddie, $25,000 stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs restricted to 3-year-olds who are progeny of stallions whose service was sold at the 2006 Minnesota Thoroughbred Association’s stallion service auction.

In the Laddie, Rustic Road impressively defeated a five-horse field in his return off a four-month layoff due to an injury to his tendon sheath. Rhone used PRP, or plasma therapy, to help heal the injury.

In PRP, blood is drawn from the horse and spun to separate the platelets. The platelets are then injected into the injury site and aid in tissue repair.

Rustic Road ($3) looked sharp in his return, quickly taking the lead. Jockey Dean Butler worked hard to relax the colt early, as they set the pace just the ahead of Gold Country Cat in fractions of 23.04 and 45.90 seconds. Butler confidently handled the colt into the stretch and turned him loose just before the eighth pole. He won by an increasing four lengths ahead of Gold Country Cat in a final time of 1:16.36.

She's Better Loud takes Lassie by five lengths

In the Lassie, front-running favorite She's Better Loud ($2.40) defeated a field of four. She entered the race off a third-place finish as the favorite in the Iowa Breeders' Oaks at Prairie Meadows on Aug. 7.

Downerbythemeadow broke sharply from the outside post but was quickly joined by She's Better Loud. The two sped through the fractions of 22.21 and 44.97, five lengths ahead of the field. Downerbythemeadow dropped out of the duel at the head of the lane and Dean Butler was able to hold his filly together well enough to win by five lengths over the late rallying Night Deposit in a final time of 1:18.06.

She's Better Loud is owned by Sandra Rasmussen's River Ridge Ranch.