Sunday, August 30, 2009

Canterbury Park - Festival of Champions Day

A gorgeous late summer day in central Minnesota to close the Canterbury season. Temperatures are in the mid-60's and the sun is shining with scattered clouds. Even the breeze knows that it is champions day as it's really light behind the horses as they come down the stretch today. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of traffic coming off the highway toward the racetrack today as well considering the amount of competition this weekend - the Great Minnesota Get Together (known in some parts as the Minnesota State Fair) began this week as well as the Minnesota Renaissance Fair, which is a popular event only one town over in Chaska. It will be interesting to see the final attendance and handle figures when the day is done.

We'll start the day with two Minnesota bred Quarter Horse Stakes: the Futurity and Derby before we hit the Thoroughbred card starting in Race 3. In order, we'll see:

Norther Lights Futurity
Distaff Classic
Classic
Northern Lights Debutante
Turf
Distaff Sprint
Sprint

There are also a couple of Minn-bred allowance races to finish up the season that look to be competitive events.

The day started with a very close photo in the Quarter Horse Futurity with 2-5 favorite Oak Tree Boulevard surviving a tight photo with 25-1 shot Mr Hempens Feature. Hopefully a sign of an exciting racing day ahead of us.

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