Racetrack officials have announced that more than 18,000 racegoers recently filed through the turnstiles to take in a day of ‘extreme’ racing.
Minnesota Thoroughbred raceway Canterbury Park held its annual ‘Extreme Day’ this past Saturday (July 16), and it featured a bit of everything.
A recap by Canterbury Live explains that there was one event which was definitely different, as horses competed over two different surfaces during the same race (11 horses raced over turf and seven raced over the dirt track). A contest dubbed ‘The Battle of the Surfaces’ has never rang truer.
In addition to two-surface racing, there were also ostriches, camels and zebras in action. Also, it’s not unlike Thoroughbred racing to contest races at varying distances, but some of the dashes that went forward even had seasoned horseplayers giving a second look. For instance, runner World Famous Sam T won a two-furlong race for jockey Scott Bethke.
There were also two races for trainers that had yet to saddle a winner this season. Dusty Princess broke Chuck Turco’s 2016 maiden in one of the contests, while One Won Eleven got the job done for conditioner Virginia Peters in the other.
(With files from Canterbury Live)