Tag: canterbury park

Over $500,000 In Participation Incentive Awards Available At Canterbury Park

Canterbury Park racing officials, with support from the Minnesota HBPA, have announced new 2021 participation incentive programs designed to reward owners that send horses ready to race at the start of the meet. In addition, trainers and owners wishing to participate at the Shakopee, Minn. track may apply for a loan to be used for the transport of horses arriving prior to the start of the 65-day season. In total, more than $500,000 will be made available to assist and support the arrival of a race-ready horse population in advance of the 2021 season which runs May 18 through Sept. 16.

Owners of Thoroughbred starters in open-company overnight races during the first eight days of racing from May 18 through May 31 will earn an additional $1,000 participation bonus per start. This bonus applies to each start a horse makes during that time and will be paid directly into the owner's account through the bookkeeper's office.

“We want horses to arrive at Canterbury Park ready to enter and compete,” Vice President of Racing Operations Andrew Offerman said. “This participation bonus puts extra money in the hands of racehorse owners in addition to purse money they may earn and is designed to directly offset transportation expenses incurred to get to Minnesota.”

In 2020, Canterbury Park saw total handle increase by 68 percent despite running 21 percent fewer races. The $68.4 million in handle was a record for the track. Per starter handle was up 115 percent to $18,902. Field size averaged 7.24 thoroughbreds per race.

“It was important last year to start strong and make an impression on the national racing audience. Offering large and competitive fields accomplished that and we are prepared to build on this growth in wagering interest in 2021,” Offerman said. “The bonus not only assists owners in covering expenses at the start of the season, it grows field size and thus handle which in turn drive purses.”

Canterbury Park recently announced across the board increases in its overnight purse structure which meet or in some cases exceed 2019 overnight purses. In total, purses are anticipated to average approximately $230,000 per race day or a nearly 20 percent per day increase in 2021 as compared to 2020.

The shipping loan program is offered to qualified applicants who arrive prior to the start of the 2021 season. Shipping loan applications will be due with stall applications by April 2 and will be reviewed by the stall allocation committee which includes Director of Racing and Racing Secretary Robert Junk. The committee will authorize up to $25,000 per owner to cover the cost of horse transportation to Canterbury Park. The loan will be repaid through an agreement between the successful applicant and the track.

All pertinent documents are available at https://www.canterburypark.com/horsemen/ .

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Canterbury Park Announces 2021 Stakes Schedule Worth Over $2 Million

Canterbury Park racing officials have announced that 27 stakes races with purses totaling $2,060,000 will be run during the 65-day 2021 race meet that begins May 18. The richest of the stakes is the $150,000 Mystic Lake Derby at one mile on the turf on June 23, part of the six-stake Northern Stars Turf Festival. Again in 2021, each of the six stakes comprising the Sept. 8 Minnesota Festival of Champions will offer $100,000 purses. All but two of the meet's stakes will be run on Wednesday evenings, when first post is 5:00 p.m.

The Mystic Lake Northern Stars Turf Festival includes four $100,000 turf races in addition to the Mystic Lake Derby. Also on that date are the Mystic Lake Mile, the Lady Canterbury Stakes, the Dark Star Turf Sprint, and the Curtis Sampson Oaks, named in honor of the late Canterbury Park founder and Chairman who died in 2020. The race previously was run as the Northbound Pride Oaks. The $60,000 MTA Stallion Auction Stakes is also June 23.

Vice President of Racing Operations Andrew Offerman has scheduled preview days to offer racing opportunities leading up to the major stakes dates. The Northern Stars Turf Festival is previewed on May 26 with three $50,000 turf stakes, the Honor the Hero Stakes, HBPA Distaff, and Brooks Fields Stakes.

“Clustering stakes races to offer high quality racing on selected Wednesdays throughout the meet will continue to strengthen Canterbury's national presence,” Offerman said.

Offerman used a similar strategy in 2020 when the track switched from traditional weekend racing that attracted large in-person crowds no longer possible during the COVID-19 pandemic to a weeknight schedule. Handle soared to a record $68 million for the 53-day meet, easily eclipsing the previous record of $48 million over 69 days in 2018.

Hall of Fame Day is July 14, offering Minnesota-breds $50,000 purses in four stakes. The Ralph Strangis Stakes and Minnesota Turf Distaff are turf routes. Three-year-olds will sprint in the Victor S. Myers and Frances Genter before stretching out in distance on Aug. 18 in the Minnesota Derby and Minnesota Oaks, each offering $100,000 and anchoring Made in Minnesota Day, which includes the $50,000 Wally's Choice Stakes and Glitter Star Stakes.

Overnight purse levels, which saw slight decreases in 2020 due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, will return to or exceed the levels of 2019 depending on race condition.

The race meet concludes Sept. 16. Condition books and stall applications are available now HERE. Track officials anticipate announcing a new shipping and participation incentive program in the coming weeks with the objective of attracting additional participants to Canterbury Park.

Complete Stakes Schedule

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Raven Unexpectedly Busy at OBS

Owner/trainer Kerri Raven, based at Tampa Bay Downs this winter with a string of 10 horses, went to the OBS Winter Mixed Sale Tuesday with the expectation of possibly buying a horse out of the auction's racing age section. The Ontario native returned to Tampa Wednesday with three horses, including the $150,000 session topper Bear Brian (Tiznow) (hip 368).

“I just came up to see the horses of racing age, but I didn't really have a plan,” Raven said on the road back to Tampa Wednesday afternoon. “We brought the trailer, but I thought maybe one or none. I wasn't planning on being that aggressive at all. It was just the individuals that really stuck out.”

Raven's first purchase of the day was Jungle Fighter (Animal Kingdom) (hip 257). She paid $60,000 for the 5-year-old gelding who was third in the 2019 GIII Ontario Derby and was most recently seventh in the GI Northern Dancer S. last October for Stronach Stables and trainer Michael Doyle.

Raven then paid $90,000 for an unraced 3-year-old colt by Distorted Humor (hip 315). The sophomore shared the bullet three-furlong drill (:32 2/5) during Monday's under-tack preview.

Following those two purchases, Raven thought she was done shopping. Until she saw Bear Brian.

“The last hip that I bought, who was the sale topper, when that horse came into the ring, he just had so much presence that I couldn't say no to him,” Raven said. “I was done buying until I saw that horse. I was done buying and I wasn't really paying attention to anything anymore and then I saw him and just had to go see what he was about. I'd never quite seen as good-looking a horse as that. He is so well put-together and he has an intelligent head. He's just beautiful. I went and talked to the people and saw he vetted out really good. And that was it.”

Bear Brian was purchased by Stonestreet Stables for $300,000 as a weanling at the 2018 Keeneland November sale. In his lone start, the bay colt won on debut at Sam Houston Race Park Jan. 9.

“I went and looked at him just because of how he looked as an individual and then found everything else about him,” Raven said. “I thought that was really big, a winner in his only start, that's not easy to do.”

Asked if her session-topping $150,000 bid would have been her last, Raven said, “I wasn't stopping. I'm kind of like that.”

Raven grew up in Ontario, but had to find her own way into the racing world.

“My mother is an artist and my dad was a musician,” Raven said. “I just kind of jumped the fence of the nearest horse farm–it was actually a dairy farm that had a horse. I was just horse crazy right from the time I was a kid. I always knew I wanted to work with horses, but I had to go and find it myself.”

Raven eventually found her way to Woodbine, where she worked as a hot walker and then galloped for trainers like Mac Benson and Paul Buttigieg. She also spent six years working for trainers in Europe.

“I think in a way, they let a horse be a horse over there,” Raven said of what she learned in her time in Europe. “Horses are a lot more relaxed. I like having a round pen and I don't like trying to build them up too much. I think they prepare them mentally better over there. I like to take my time, too. If they need the time, I give them the time they need.”

From Tampa Bay, Raven and her now 13-horse stable will move to Canterbury Park in Minnesota in the spring.

“I train for some guys in Minnesota and a couple people in Canada, but I own quite a few myself,” Raven said of the string.

Asked if she was looking to expand her stable, Raven said, “No. I gallop all of my own horses and I thought 10 was a good number.”

She added with a laugh, “And then I went to Ocala.”

As for her plans for Bear Brian, Raven said, “We will see how he starts training to determine where we will point him. He has the potential to be a lot of fun.”

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Longtime Racing Executive Nat Wess, 81, Succumbs In Minnesota

Nat Wess, one of the premier publicists in horse racing in the 1970s and '80s when he served as director of publicity at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif., died on Thursday in Minnesota. He was 81.

Wess had been hospitalized since Dec. 31 after suffering a hip fracture and requiring surgery. While hospitalized, he tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email distributed to members of the Minnesota Racing Commission shared with the Paulick Report.

While he began his career as a publicist, working first at Santa Anita and then moving to cross-town rival Hollywood Park, Wess would go on to other racetrack and association management positions, including assistant general manager at Canterbury Park in Minnesota and general manager of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

But it was promoting racing that Wess was best known for, especially during his years at Hollywood Park, when “giveaways” and the launch of the Pick 6 routinely brought weekend crowds of 50,000-plus (the first giveaway, when all paid attendees received a free tote bag, brought out a record 80,348). During his tenure at Hollywood Park, daily average attendance hit a highwater mark of 31,150 in 1980.

Wess left his mark on two other big events. In the early days of the Claiming Crown, when it was held at Philadelphia Park (now Parx Racing) and Canterbury, he  promoted it tirelessly on behalf of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. During his time at the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, Wess was part of the braintrust that created the California Cup, an event that had its 31st running two days after his death.

Wess, who always appeared to be a bundle of nervous energy, is remembered by racing writers for the patience, helpfulness and kindness he showed to those who were just beginning their careers. He was an old-school promoter, learning the ropes from the late Bob Benoit and employing props and publicity photos to promote big races and star horses

He is survived, by Ellen, his wife of 58 years, daughter Deborah and son David. A private memorial service for family will be held, and a public memorial is being planned for summer.

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