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Canterbury’s 2021 Race Dates Approved; Purses Projected To Increase 35 Percent

Canterbury Park's request for a 65-day 2021 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing season, May 18 through Sept. 16, was unanimously approved on Thursday by the Minnesota Racing Commission.

The Shakopee, Minn. track will conduct a Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday race schedule with racing also held on Memorial Day and Labor Day. as well as Saturday, July 3.

Purses are anticipated to be approximately $14 million, $220,000 per day, a projected increase of more than 35 percent in total and 12 percent per day as compared to 2020. A 2012 cooperative marketing and purse enhancement agreement reached with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, owners and operators of nearby Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, will supplement purses by $7.28 million. The agreement extends through 2022 with more than $80 million going toward purse supplements and joint marketing of the two properties.

Post time on Sundays and holidays will be 1:00 p.m. while weekday racing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday racing will begin at 5:00 p.m. On July 3, racing will begin at 4:00 p.m. The 2021 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse stakes schedules are expected to be announced in January with stall applications and the first condition book available shortly thereafter.

Canterbury Park's 24/7 card casino and simulcast racebook remain temporarily closed due to Executive Order 20-103 issued by Gov. Tim Walz to slow the spread of COVID-19. Visit www.canterburypark.com for more information.

The post Canterbury’s 2021 Race Dates Approved; Purses Projected To Increase 35 Percent appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Sky’s Not The Limit For Jockey Marcus Swiontek

Jockey Marcus Swiontek became interested in horse racing really by chance. He grew up in Jordan, Minn., just 14 miles down Highway 169 from Canterbury Park, yet the racetrack was never on his radar. Marcus happened to be flipping through TV channels on a Saturday afternoon in the mid-2000s and stumbled across the Kentucky Derby.

“From that moment I said 'Hey, I'm going to do that,'” he recalled during a 2017 interview.

His professional race riding career began in 2011 aboard a Thoroughbred at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Az. He gravitated more to the Quarter Horse side of the industry over the years at Remington Park, Prairie Meadows, Canterbury, and Phoenix earning a living race riding and galloping in the mornings.

Swiontek won the Gopher State Derby in Shakopee on Zoomn On Bye July 7. He suffered an ankle injury three weeks later during a race and has not ridden since.

“I got on my first horse three or four days ago,” he said, admitting that the time away left him a bit muscle sore as he strives to get back in shape galloping for trainer Sandi Gann.

All along though Marcus has had a plan: prepare for his next career and be ready without delay. That career would be as an airline pilot. He studied in Minnesota, at Flying Cloud Airport, just across the Minnesota River and up the bluff from Canterbury, earning his student pilot license in June of 2017 and his private pilot license in March of 2018 while still race riding.

Last month, he made another stride toward the goal, getting a commercial license. He will still need additional coursework and 1,500 hours of flight time before the major airlines or cargo haulers come knocking. Marcus explained that those hours for many pilots, come through flight instruction, teaching others to fly. He can begin doing that in Phoenix in short order.

The racetrack still has an allure that is hard to walk away from. But unlike many athletes, Swiontek has an exit strategy taking him seamlessly from one world to another.

“I'd love to [return to Canterbury] this summer,” he said, but time and circumstances will dictate.

For the time being however he can have one foot in both worlds, flying and instructing while also preparing for opening day at Turf Paradise January 4.

The post Sky’s Not The Limit For Jockey Marcus Swiontek appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Diodoro Given 60-Day Suspension For Hydroxylidocaine; Stewards Stay Penalty For One Year

Trainer Robertino Diodoro has been suspended 60 days and fined $5,000 to for two hydroylidocaine positives in runners at Canterbury Park, but he won't be serving those days immediately. A ruling from the Minnesota Racing Commission's board of stewards last week indicated the officials ordered a stay of the suspension for 365 days due to unspecified “mitigating factors.”

The stay means that Diodoro will not serve the 60 days unless he has Class 1, Class 2, Category A or Category B medication violations in the 365 days following Dec. 1 of this year.

Minnesota Racing Commission executive director Steve May was unable, per Minnesota law, to offer comment on what mitigating factors prompted the stewards to stay the suspension.

Hey Kitten, the runner-up in the third race on Aug. 26 at Canterbury, tested above the legal threshold for 3-hydroxylidocaine, as did Catty Krys, sixth place finisher in Canterbury's fifth race Sept. 1. Both horses have been disqualified and are unplaced in those races. Split samples requested by Diodoro confirmed the positives.

Because the second violation happened before Diodoro could be notified of the first, the stewards also elected to treat both violations as one, which is common practice.

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Diodoro Fined $5K, Gets Stayed 60-Day Suspension for Lidocaine Positives

Two 3-hydroxylidocaine positives detected in separate horses six days apart at Canterbury Park in August and September have resulted in a $5,000 fine and 60-day suspension for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

The suspension part of the penalty has been stayed so long as Diodoro does not incur a Class 1 or 2 or Penalty Category A or B medication violation before Jan. 31, 2021.

Lidocaine is classified as a Class 2, Penalty Category B substance on the Controlled Therapeutic Medication Schedule compiled by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI).

For a first offense, the ARCI’s recommended Category B penalties are a “minimum one-year suspension absent mitigating circumstances [and a] minimum fine of $10,000 or 10% of total purse (greater of the two) absent mitigating circumstances.”

The positives were reported in lower-level claiming horses that ran second and sixth.

According to a Nov. 30 Minnesota Racing Commission ruling, Diodoro back on Nov. 18 had “waived his right to a formal hearing and agreed to accept a Board of Stewards ruling calling for a 60-day suspension effective Dec. 1, 2020 through Jan. 30, 2021, and a $5,000 civil penalty.” Another stewards’ phone conference with Diodoro on Monday preceded the release of the ruling.

That ruling continued: “Due to mitigating factors, the Board of Stewards ordered a stay of the 60-day suspension for 365 days beginning Dec. 1 providing Diodoro has no Class 1 or Class 2, Category A or B medication violations within that timeframe. If Diodoro is the subject of a Class 1 or Class 2, Category A or B medication violation within the timeframe, the 60-day suspension will be reinstated immediately…”

The ruling did not address specifics of the mitigating factors.

The first positive came from Hey Kitten (Haynesfield) who ran second as the 9-10 favorite Aug. 26 in a $10,000 claimer for owner Heads Up Racing. The 3-year-old filly was claimed that day and hasn’t started since, although she shows recent workouts at Turfway Park. According to the ruling, her 3-hydroxylidocaine finding was reported at 58.4 pg/ml (the threshold is 20 pg/ml).

On Sept. 1, Catty Krys (Discreet Cat) ran sixth as the 23-10 second favorite in a $7,500 claimer for owner Empire Racing Stables, LLC. She too was claimed by a new outfit, and has since started four more times at Remington Park and Charles Town Races without cracking the top three placings. According to the ruling, the 6-year-old mare’s 3-hydroxylidocaine finding was reported at 56.6 pg/ml.

According to the ruling, “The Board of Stewards took into consideration that the second violation occurred before the first violation was reported to the Stewards and was not known by the trainer. Therefore, the Board of Stewards treated the two violations as one, which is standard practice.”

The ruling stated that Diodoro requested split-serum sample testing for confirmation and the presence of 3-Hydroxylidocaine was recorded “in both split sample serums well above the threshold level,” the ruling stated.

Both horses were disqualified for purse and placing purposes only. The ruling did not address the status of the claims made by new owners on the days both tested positive.

Around the same time that Diodoro’s two Canterbury horses returned the Class 2 positives, the trainer had four other horses disqualified for Class 4 positives that turned up earlier in the year at Oaklawn Park and Will Rogers Downs.

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