The Canterbury season is coming to a close and while barns are paring down and shipping horses to Chicago, Oklahoma and other locales, the action has not stopped in Shakopee. Actually, a LOT went on over the weekend including history being made and a first of it's kind event comes to Shakopee closing weekend.
Angela Calls the Card
Track analyst Angela Hermann became the first North American woman to call and entire card of Thoroughbred races on Saturday. I covered a lot of the specifics in my first feature for the Daily Racing Form this past week.
The poise she showed, especially race 1 when there were 3 video cameras in the booth and some dope with a cell phone camera, was impressive. Her voice may not boom like regular announcer Paul Allen, but she was smooth and fluid and had her own take on the races as they unfolded. It was a pleasure to listen to and even more so to have a front seat to some racing history.
Mundy Gets Claimed
Canterbury Racing Club horse, Mundy, was claimed over the weekend. We had claimed her for $16,000 in the hopes that she would make a nice higher level addition to the Club. I was mistaken. The 5-year old mare wasn't herself in Minnesota. As the meet wore on she was more and more determined to drag her pilot through fast early fractions and had a tougher time settling down on the front end. The result was just a single 3rd place finish as we dropped her through the class levels until she was finally claimed at $7500 and will head back to AZ with old trainer Mike Chambers.
She looked all the part to be a solid claim but that certainly did not materialize. She may have disliked the Canterbury turf or she may be starting to get babies on the brain. Either way she never fired for us and I wish her well back in AZ.
That leaves the Club with one horse, Ask Eddy, who will go for his 3rd win of the meet in 5 starts on Friday evening. It's a tough, full field, but we're hoping that Eddy can bring home one more win before heading to Hawthorne. The race is his preferred mile and 70 over the dirt, $5,000 claiming.
Bourbonology Ends Season With A Second
Our own Bourbonology finished a solid second in her sixth race since we purchased her earlier in the meet. She had a rugged win in her GRS debut, winning a Maiden Special Weight but faltered thereafter. She came back in a first level allowance and was smoked; the same for an off the turf effort at $20,000 claiming. In her final attempt at $20,000 she closed a bit better, but it appeared that she needed some class relief.
We gave it to her in her next out, a $12,500 claiming race, and she responded well. She was coming hard late and I thought we had a shot to win, but jockey Dean Butler couldn't give her head to run: she was trying hard to lug in and with a horse on her inside flank any rally would have resulted in a disqualification, or worse. She ended up finishing 4th but gave us a reason for optimism.
Saturday she broke fairly and was settled nicely. When the time came to run, Dean was able to get her going and, with a change in the blinker set up, she was less apt to lug in. Dean also had her on the rail and she rallied nicely for a second place finish. Now she'll get some time off until Tampa Bay Downs in December, or perhaps even the 1st of the year. Given the purse increases at Canterbury, we want to have a fresh mare for the 2014 season so we won't bring her back too early.
Professional Indian Horse Racing Association
An event that I have been looking forward to for weeks - no, not the last Food Truck Festival on closing day (well, YES, that too...); the PIHRA Professional Indian Relay Tribal Championships will take place at Canterbury. If you haven't seen this, you can take a look here. It's exciting, dangerous and full of tradition and pride. One rider will make three laps around the track on 3 separate horses making two exchanges along the way. The exchanges are exciting and these guys can flat out ride! Bareback! Races will be held all three days the final weekend of the meet starting Thursday night and I can't wait to see this live.
New and Notes
In other stable news and notes, Tabby Lane is doing just fine in foal to Eastwood Dacat. She's settled on a farm in New Prague, MN and we will await the arrival of her first foal sometime in March. Elusive Edition (Ellie), has recovered nicely from her shin soreness and is showing signs of growing out of it. However, we will wait on this nice 2-year old Minnesota bred and not start her back until February to get ready for the 2014 season.
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