All-Time Minnesota-Bred Earner Mr. Jagermeister Retired, Stud Plans Pending

Mr. Jagermeister, the all-time leading Minnesota-bred money earning Thoroughbred, was retired Saturday following a workout at Tampa Bay Downs in which he was preparing for next week's Pelican Stakes.

The 7-year-old, who had earned $700,839 in 37 starts, returned to the barn following the workout when it was discovered that he had suffered a condylar fracture of the left front.

“We breezed him and everything went fine,” trainer Valorie Lund said. “He came back off. At first we thought it was his foot.” But the veteran trainer quickly knew it was something more and called for an x-ray. It was then the fracture was determined.

A younger horse might return from such a setback but Lund knew it was time for Mr. Jagermeister to retire. “I'm sorry to see him go. He was such a joy,” she said. Plans are in the making for a potential career in the breeding shed.

Mr. Jagermeister returned to his barn in Ocala where Lund keeps a string of 30.

“He was wanting to play in the aisle,” she said. “He's feeling fine.”

Mr. Jagermeister exploded onto the scene in the summer of 2017 when as a 2-year-old he broke his maiden at Canterbury at first asking by 11 1/2 lengths. His second start was a runner-up finish in a Prairie Meadows stakes race followed by the easiest 15 1/2 length win in the Northern Lights Futurity, the premiere race for state-bred 2-year-olds. A month later he met the talented Amy's Challenge in the Shakopee Juvenile. That battle became one of the most memorable at Canterbury. The filly defeated Mr. Jagermeister by a fraction of a length after the two dueled down the stretch.

Mr. Jagermeister would continue to face top competition throughout his career. While he is the all-time leader for state-breds in earnings, he is seventh overall in money earned racing at Canterbury. The son of Atta Boy Roy, who Lund also trained, made much of his purse money the hard way.

“He always met tough horses,” Lund said. “He was really an astounding racehorse.”

He won 13 of 37 starts with six seconds and four third-place finishes in a career that will lead to a Canterbury Hall of Fame induction.

In 2018 Mr. Jagermeister finished second to Mitole, then one of the nation's fastest sprinters, in an Oaklawn stakes. Later in his career he was second to Whitmore, a future Breeders' Cup Sprint winner. His brilliant speed carried him far. In his final race on Jan. 9, a Tampa Bay Downs sprint that he won by seven lengths going away, Mr. Jagermeister recorded a career best 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

It was a race in his 3-year-old season that Lund remembers the most. That year began in the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita where he tired on a blistering pace. He next romped in a Turf Paradise allowance before facing Mitole and heading south to Shakopee. He went favored in the 10,000 Lakes against older statebreds and won by eight lengths. Mr. Jagermeister was and is the only 3-year-old to win that race in 28 renditions.

Following a tenth place finish in the Mystic Lake Derby, his first turf try, Mr. Jagermeister went on a three-race sweep of the Victor Myers, Minnesota Derby and Minnesota Classic Championship. It was the Derby Lund recalls fondly.

“We wanted to keep him off the rail. He won by so far. Leandro [Goncalves] was standing up and cruising in,” she said. He won by 10 lengths in 1:40.37, just .17 seconds off the track record established in 1985. “Four off the rail all the way around. Geared down,” she remembered.

Family was planning to come to Tampa for the $100,000 Pelican Stakes, which was to be Mr. Jagermeister's next start, this coming Saturday. They will still visit and Lund hopes she can enter a maiden 3-year-old she has high hopes for.

“They will still come,” Lund said. “We will party but instead it will be a retirement party.”

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Mr. Jagermeister Sets Stakes Record, Becomes Richest Minnesota-Bred Of All Time

Mr. Jagermeister won the $50,000 10,000 Lakes Stakes on Wednesday night at Canterbury Park by 4 3/4 lengths, covering six furlongs in a stakes record 1:08.54. The 6-year old earned $30,000 and became the richest Minnesota-bred money earner in the history of racing with lifetime earnings of $645,434, surpassing sixth-place finisher Hot Shot Kid, who is the second-richest earner with $618,611. Mr. Jagermeister won the 10,000 Lakes in 2018. Hot Shot Kid won the stake in 2019 and 2020.

Mr. Jagermeister is trained by Valorie Lund who co-owns the horse with Leslie Cummings and Kristin Boice. He was ridden by Ruben Fuentes. Mr. Jagermeister paid $4.20 as the wagering favorite. Drop of Golden Sun, who set the first quarter-mile fraction, held on for second. Cinco Star was third.

The $50,000 Lady Slipper Stakes, also at six furlongs, went to Clickbait and jockey Cecily Evans. This was the first stake victory for Evans, whose riding career began in 2009. Evans let the 5-year-old mare sail to the lead on the backstretch and was never challenged from there, drawing off to win by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:09.77.

“She wanted to go. She pulled me to the front,” Evans said. “She's my favorite horse.”

Star of the North, the 2 to 1 second choice on the morning line, was scratched shortly after leaving the walking ring.

Clickbait, who paid $4.40, is trained by Mac Robertson and is owned by Hugh Robertson, John Mentz and Jeff Larson. Mentz also owns second-place finisher Ready to Runaway who is trained by Robertson. Rush Hour Traffic was third.

Total handle for the nine-race program was $ 2,418,727 bolstered by $653,521 wagered into the Pick 5 pool that had a carryover from the previous day of $91,333. The handle total is the ninth largest total daily handle in the history of Canterbury Park, and the second largest non-Claiming Crown handle total.

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Canterbury’s Opening Night Handles $1.8 Million; $91,333 Pick 5 Carryover Wednesday

Canterbury's 65-day racing season got underway Tuesday with a small, but very lively crowd capped at somewhere around 2,500. Total handle on the opening night card was $1,845,976.

The 50 cent Pick 5 was elusive to bettors who wagered $135,332 into the pool. With no winning tickets, the carryover into Wednesday evening is $91,333.

“People, the fans, seem so happy to be back,” trainer Valorie Lund said. “I had complete strangers wishing me luck.”

Masks are no longer required for the fully vaccinated, so smiling faces could be seen everywhere.

One of those smiling faces was owner Peter Mattson of Prior Lake, Minn. His Elusive Amelia won the first race, Astronaut Oscar the second and Owen's Pleasure the third.

Had he ever won three races in one night?

“Not that I recall,” said Mattson. “I haven't won three races in a month,” said the self-deprecating Mattson, who was third leading owner in 2020.

Mattson's horses were not done yet however. Minnesota Lucky finished off the board in the fifth but Thealligatorhunter, who Mattson co-owns with trainer Tim Padilla, won the eighth race by open lengths.

Jockey Alonso Quinonez was aboard three of the Mattson winners and Chad Lindsay another. Quincy Hamilton brought in the longest price of the night, taking Papa Rizzo gate to wire at 37 to 1 and paying $77.20.

Three riders new to the jockey colony this season, Lindey Wade , Ruben Fuentes and Luis Negron, had one win each.

The $1 Pick 6 also went un-hit. The carryover into Wednesday is $7,714.87. First post is 5PM CDT.

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Bodenheimer Named 2020 Washington Horse Of The Year

The 2020 Washington Annual Awards celebration was held via Zoom Saturday evening, February 27. Many industry members tuned in via their phones or other devices to be part of the ceremonies.

Kristin Boice and Marylou Holden's talented juvenile Bodenheimer was named horse of the year. This year the award honored the late Washington horseman Richard Wright. The son of 2020 leading sire Atta Boy Roy was a stakes winner at both Keeneland and Prairie Meadows last year. He is trained, as was his sire, by now Kentucky resident Valerie Lund. In addition Bodenheimer, who is the second stakes winner Larry Romaine bred out of the stakes-winning A. P. Indy mare Beautiful Daniele, was named champion turf horse and shared co-champion two-year-old honors with undefeated Dutton.

Dutton, who races for Rising Star Stable VIII and is trained by Howard Belvoir – who received one of three special racing achievement awards – is from the first and only crop of the late Washington champion Noosito, who was not only Washington's leading freshman sire, but also the second leading 2020 freshman sire on the West Coast.

Champion two-year-old filly honors went to Chad and Josh's Time for Gold, who was victorious in two Emerald Downs stakes. Her owners, Chad Christensen and Josh McKee, were also the state's leading owners of Washington-breds. Time for Gold  was one of three progeny of Harbor the Gold who won stakes victories for the successful partnership.

2019 Washington horse of the year Baja Sur, by Smiling Tiger, added two more championship titles to his impressive total: champion older horse or gelding and champion sprinter. He races for Auburn residents John and Janene Maryanski and Gerry and Gail Schneider.

Warlock Stables, Kelly Dougan and trainer Roddina Barrett's Alittlesstalk encored her 2019 champion title with an even more impressive record in 2020 when the four-year-old daughter of Demon Warlock won two stakes and placed in two more in her seven-race skein.

Tawnja Elison's Unmachable, by Macho Uno, also took off where he had in 2019. The state's champion two-year-old added two more stakes wins, one over older runners, to earn the champion three-year-old title. His trainer, Jack McCartney, was also honored with a special training achievement award.

Glen Todd-owned and -trained Miss Prospector gave her sire Harbor the Gold his 24th state champion runner when she took champion sophomore filly honors.

Other horse honors went to Omache Kid (plater), Fortune's Freude (most improved plater), Melba Jewel (broodmare) and Winter Knight (OTTB).

The WTBOA/WHPBA Special Recognition Award was warmly given to Washington Horse Racing Commission executive secretary Doug Moore for all the work he put into getting approval for racing at Emerald Downs and holding the WTBOA August horse sale amid complex COVID-19  restrictions and protocols.

Other awards were given to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Pabst, who took their sixth leading breeder title; and to jockey Juan Gutierrez for gaining a record number of wins at Emerald Downs.

The program for the event is posted on the WTBOA website at www.washingtonthoroughbred,com.

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