Average handle, attendance rise during Canterbury's meet

Canterbury Park's 69-day racing season, the longest since

2006, concluded Saturday with gains in average handle and attendance. Off-track

wagering, dollars bet on Canterbury races at other tracks and through internet

sites, increased by 46.7 percent while average daily on-track wagering was up

4.8 percent. Average daily attendance was 6,656, a Canterbury Park record.

"We set a couple of goals this season," Canterbury Park CEO

Randy Sampson said. "First, we wanted to improve the quality of our racing

product by attracting new stables and more horses. We knew if that happened we

could accomplish our second goal which was to increase our national exposure and

wagering handle."

Average field size, 8.36 starters per

race, was up this season as well which aided the wagering increase. The quality

and depth of those fields also improved, witnessed by favorites winning at a 35

percent rate compared to 45 percent last year.

For the first time since 1991, Canterbury's 1,600 stalls

were filled by racehorses as several new trainers tried the Shakopee, Minnesota,

racetrack for the first time. Purses this season were more than double what they

were in 2011 due to a joint purse enhancement and marketing agreement signed in

June of 2012 with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

The agreement will

add $75 million to horsemen purses over the life of the 10-year deal. A record

of $12,453,268 in purse money was paid this season.

The increased purses attracted Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc.,

the leading owners in the nation for the past three years, to Canterbury for the

first time. Their stable was handled by trainer Roger Brueggemann, who won 28

races to make Midwest Thoroughbreds the meet's leading owner.

"This year was a great step toward what we hope to

accomplish with our live racing," Sampson said. "Prominent horsemen find our

purse structure attractive and horseplayers across the country are taking notice

as well."

Mac Robertson won his ninth consecutive training title with

51 victories. He set a single-season earnings record of $1,340,429.

Dean Butler won the riding title for the fourth time. He

finished the season with 67 wins, two more than Alex Canchari.

Heliskier was voted Horse of the Year for the second

consecutive season. The four-year-old Minnesota-bred gelding won three of five

starts, including the 10,000 Lakes Stakes and Crocrock

Minnesota Sprint Championship. Heliskier is owned by Marlene Colvin of Ethan, South

Dakota,

and is trained by Robertson. Heliskier also earned divisional titles in the

categories of sprinter and older horse.

Stacy Charette-Hill won the Quarter Horse training title

with 19 wins from 37 starts. Her starters finished in the top three at a 92

percent rate. Charette-Hill won Canterbury's two most prestigious quarter horse

races, the Canterbury Park Quarter Horse Derby and Mystic

Lake Northlands Futurity.

Jorge Torres was the leading Quarter Horse jockey with

20 wins. Brenda Reiswig of Bismarck, North Dakota, repeated as leading Quarter Horse

owner with eight wins. Stone Cottrell, winner of the Skip Zimmerman and Dash in

a Flash Stakes, was named Quarter Horse of the meet. He is trained by Charette-Hill.

Canterbury's 2013 divisional champions

Category		Winner
Horse of the Year		Heliskier
Sprinter		Heliskier
Older Horse		Heliskier
Three-Year-Old Colt or Gelding		Dorsett
Three-Year-Old Filly		Badge of Glory
Grass Horse		Dontrattlemycage
Older Filly or Mare		Second Street City
Two-Year-Old		Appeal to the King
Claimer		Machorina
Quarter Horse		Stone Cottrell

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