Robertson and Bell steal the show

SHAKOPEE, Minn. The Mac Robertson-Derek Bell show picked up where it left off last season at Canterbury Park, as the trainer-jockey team swept both stakes here on Saturday.

Robertson trainees Bella Notte and Thanks for the Tip finished first and second in the $35,000 Lady Slipper Stakes, a six-furlong event for statebred fillies and mares. Racing in tandem with her stablemate on the lead from the start, Bella Notte maintained a narrow lead to the stretch, then edged away under pressure from Bell to prevail by 1 3/4 lengths, stopping the timer in 1:12.68. Bella Notte is owned by her breeders, Art and Gretchen Eaton, who were on hand to watch their 5-year old mare win her first stakes.

Bell used different tactics to capture the $35,000 10,000 Lakes Stakes, guiding Barry and Joni Butzow's Sir Tricky from well off the pace to prevail by two lengths. Captain Canaveral set the table for Sir Tricky's late run, opening a clear lead racing into the stretch, but he drifted out, giving Sir Tricky a clear path to the wire. Sir Tricky completed the six furlongs of the statebred stakes in 1:12.45.