SHAKOPEE, MN – The final night of racing in the 2026 Canterbury Park season featured the $30,000 Shakopee Juvenile. Morning line favorite, My Kid’s Say No, was scratched earlier today which left the lone filly, Rhyme Away, as the 4-5 favorite against the boys. She broke sharply was able to seize the lead early but was overtaken through the turn by Twin City Boy.

SHAKOPEE, MN – The last night of live racing kicks off at Canterbury Park at 4:10 PM CT tonight. The featured race on the closing night card is the $30,000 Shakopee Juvenile. Rhyme Away and Manny Americano (COADY MEDIA) The local favorite is Rhyme Away. Owned by Carin Offerman and trained by Troy Bethke, Rhyme Away has proven herself to be worthy of her status as the sales topper in the 2025 Minnesota Horse Sale, nearly doubling her $40,000 in her first year of action.

SHAKOPEE, MN – A notice of violation has been issued by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to trainer Jose Silva Jr.. The notice has been posted on the HISA portal. According to the notice, HISA “has reason to believe” that Silva violated HISA rules, 8100(a), 8100 (b), 8400 (c)-(d) and has until September 18 to respond to the notice.

Sale Topper: Global Campaign-Miss Ring-Dialed In. PHOTO: H. Grevelis SHAKOPEE, MN – Short on numbers but long on prices would be the easiest way to describe the 2026 Minnesota Horse Sale at Canterbury Park. After the Minnesota HBPA declined to run the yearling sale, a group of enterprising horsepeople combined with Canterbury Park to put on this year’s sale.

SHAKOPEE, MN – A very full weekend at Canterbury included the 33rd Minnesota Festival of Champions, the Minnesota Bred Yearling Sale and the All-Breed Dog Championship of the World (the Bark in the Park). We won’t touch on the last one here except to say that the riotous finish was picked up by national news outlets and shown the media spotlight on Shakopee…albeit not for our racing.

SHAKOPEE, MN – This evening the 33rd Minnesota Festival of Champions night will be held at Canterbury Park this evening. Six state bred stakes worth a total of $380,000, along with a maiden and allowance race will be run. First post will be at 5:10 PM. The Babies: The Northern Lights Debutante and Futurity ($75,000) Rick Bremer and Cheryl Sprick bred both the male and female winners of the Northern Lights races on Minnesota Festival of Champions Day in 2024.

Altoona, IA - Prairie Meadows announce that with all Thoroughbred overnight races starting Saturday, August 22 through the end of the 2026 racing season, Prairie Meadows and the Iowa Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association (HBPA) have agreed to increase purses by $1500. With the increased purse amount taking effect, the bottom level purse for Thoroughbred overnight races will now be $13,500 and the top-level purse at $41,500 for open company races. Iowa-registered overnight races will range from $18,083 up to $55,589 for the remainder of the 2026 season, which concludes on Saturday, September 26.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Made in Minnesota Night offered a delightful blend of horse racing, Minnesota foods, Minnesota trivia, and a celebration of everything that makes the North Star State unique. On the track, the spotlight shined on four races restricted to Minnesota-bred horses, featuring the $75,000 Minnesota Derby and $75,000 Minnesota Oaks. Minnesota Derby

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Minnesota-breds take center stage Saturday at Canterbury Park on Made in Minnesota Night, highlighted by a pair of $75,000 stakes races for 3-year-olds: the Minnesota Derby and Minnesota Oaks. Both races will be contested at one mile and 70 yards over the main track. Minnesota Derby The Derby attracted a compact field of four, with most attention focused on the budding rivalry between Navarre and How Bout That Curt.

SHAKOPEE, MN - Canterbury Park announced that the Minnesota Breeders’ Fund Thoroughbred Advisory Committee has authorized the addition of $5,000 MBF dollars to each of the six thoroughbred Minnesota Festival of Champions stakes races on Saturday, Sept. 5. The advisory committee also approved adding $2,000 to the two undercard state-bred races that night.  The reason for the largess is due to the Minnesota Breeders’ Fund having a projected underpayment this year based on less-than-anticipated MBF supplements in open company races.

SHAKOPEE, MN – Three-year-old Minnesota breds competed in the postponed $50,000 Vic Myers and Frances Genter Stakes at Canterbury Park on Sunday. Originally scheduled to be run on Sunday, July 26, the racing card was cancelled due to excessively high temperatures. How Bout That Curt and Constantino Roman PHOTO: Coady Media In the Vic Myers, a traditional prep for the $75,000 Minnesota Derby, How Bout That Curt ($2.40), stalked the early leaders and powered to the lead at the top of the stretch to win the six-furlong race by 3 lengths.

SHAKOPEE, MN - Sunday’s horse races at Canterbury Park will not be conducted due to projected extreme heat during the afternoon. The heat index during the card was forecasted to exceed 105 degrees for a sustained period creating potentially unsafe conditions for both equine and human athletes as well as outdoor workers and guests. The $51,500 Frances Genter Stakes and the $51,500 Victor S.

SHAKOPEE, MN – The first half of the Canterbury Park season is over and “Championship Meet” portion of the season is set to begin Wednesday night. Heading into the break here are meet leaders in wins: JOCKEYS Manny Americano 38 Constantino Roman 30 Eduardo Gallardo 29 TRAINERS Mac Robertson 25 Jose Silva Jr 23 OWNERS John Mentz 13 Kirk Sutherland 11…

SHAKOPEE, MN - As Canterbury Park heads in to the midseason break for the Ram Trucks Canterbury rodeo, this is a good week to look back at the season and look forward to the future of racing in Minnesota. We received an email from former Minnesota Racing commissioner Dr. Camille McArdle bringing our attention to a Paulick Rwport article about the support racing receives in New Jersey.

Shakopee, MN – Canterbury Park announced a unique and creative partnership with corporate partners CertainTeed, SRS and JTR Roofing, Inc. to add $3,500 to each purse on the eight-race program Saturday, July 25. A total of $31,000 will go directly to purses on the Hall of Fame Weekend. The Saturday card includes the Ralph Strangis, Minnesota Turf Distaff and Mr. Dale Filly & Mare Turf Sprint, all turf allowance races. 

ALTOONA, IA - Prairie Meadows will present the marquee event of its live racing season, the 2026 Iowa Festival of Racing, on Friday July 10 and Saturday July 11. The two-day festival includes a total of eight stakes races, four on July 10 and four on July 11, highlighted by the Grade III $300,000-guaranteed Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap on Saturday July 11.

(Courtesy Canterbury Park; Phot Credits: Coady Media) Shakopee, MN - Jockey Jermaine Bridgmohan recorded his 1,000th career win Thursday when he won the eighth race at Canterbury Park aboard Everything Bugs Me for trainer Mac Robertson and owner John Mentz. Bridgmohan also won the seventh race. “I’ve been riding 20 years and I’m glad to get milestones likethis,” Bridgmohan said. “I’m very grateful for all the owners, trainers and my fellow jockeys, to get to this point and it feels pretty good.”

SHAKOPEE, MN – The Northern Stars Turf Festival at Canterbury was run last night under perfect conditions: a warm evening, light breeze, good crowd, solid handle ($1.7 million) and great racing was the order of the evening to go with Tacos and Tequila Night at the track. Here is a recap of the evening’s stakes.

SHAKOPEE, MN – Saturday night at Canterbury Park is the return of the Northern Stars Turf Festival, a night of three turf stakes and one named allowance that, once again, drew entries from throughout the Midwest. The biggest question on Northern Stars night is which shippers are actual coming and which will scratch, requiring the horseplayer to be agile on race day.

SHAKOPEE, MN – Olivia Bethke dismounted after her first profession race as a jockey with an ear-to-ear grin and gave her dad, longtime trainer and Canterbury stalwart, Troy Bethke, a big hug. An accomplished show jumper, Olivia has long harbored a desire to be a jockey. Olivia Bethke Heads to the Paddock for her Professional Debut PHOTO: Heather Andreasan “Show jumping is hard,” said Dad.

SHAKOPEE, MN – State breds took the stakes stage last night at Canterbury Park and the nearly 10,000 fans in attendance got their money’s worth as the betting favorites were able to reward their backers on a warm summer night in Shakopee. Thunders Rocknroll (PHOTO: COADY MEDIA) In the $50,000 Lady Slipper for state bred females, Thunders Rocknroll, was challenged early by Lover Girl who latched on to her flank.

Thunder Rocknroll (PHOTO: COADY MEDIA) SHAKOPEE, MN – Stakes season in Shakopee arrives this evening with the annual renewal of state bred restricted dirt sprints, the 10,000 Lakes and the Lady Slipper. There is little doubt of the favorite in the Lady Slipper for state bred fillies ad mares. The Bob Lindgren homebred, Thunders Rocknroll, comes in as the 3/5 morning line favorite in her local debut after a 2025 season where she had five Canterbury starts and won the last three before heading to Remington where she had a line of 3-1-1-1.

SHAKOPEE, MN – Opening weekend at Canterbury Park unofficially kicks off summer for Minnesotans and over 7000 thousand racing fans filled the Park to celebrate the return of the summer staple. The total for the three-day opening weekend was over 20,000. Though field size was a bit of a concern, wagering on opening night was robust with all sources handle hitting $1.2 million with over a million wagered on Sunday and $2.8 million for the holiday weekend.

The paddock at Canterbury will be back in action tomorrow night SHAKOPEE, MN - Canterbury Park is gearing up for the opening of the racing season this Saturday evening. Post time for opening night is 5:00 PM. The holiday weekend will be filled with racing action with Sunday and Monday start times of 1:00 PM. Once again, the state of Minnesota has failed to act on any legislative action that would positively affect the state’s two racetracks.

John Groen, General Manager of Canterbury Park, announced to Minnesota horsemen that Canterbury Park will again host the Minnesota bred yearling sale on September 6. Several horsemen volunteered to assist the track in running the sale this year after the demise of the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association two years ago and the decision by the HBPA to not take on the sale this year.

George Moncrief will be Canterbury Park track superintendent for the 2026 racing season that begins May 23. Moncrief, currently track superintendent at Sunland Park and Zia Park in New Mexico where he has held the role since 2021, has a long history and familiarity with the Canterbury Park racing surface. Moncrief ran the racetrack maintenance crew at Canterbury Park in 2015 and 2016.

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