Long On Value Choice in Mystic Lake Derby

The richest race of the 68-day Canterbury Park season, the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby, features a field of 12 3-year-olds Sept. 13 including 4-1 morning line favorite Long On Value, trained by Bill Mott.



The Mystic Lake Derby, at one mile on the turf, will be run as the 10th of a 12-race program Saturday, the final day of the meet. Racing begins at 12:15 p.m. CDT. Racing will also be held at Canterbury Thursday and Friday, Sept. 11-12, beginning at 6:30 p.m.



"We are very pleased with quality and number of entrants in this year’s Mystic Lake Derby,” said Eric Halstrom, vice president of racing operations at the Shakopee, Minn., track. "We had hoped that moving our biggest race to the end of the season would allow us to draw horses from tracks where we had not before. Our theory worked and that shows in this strong field."



The Mystic Lake Derby, now in its third year, had been held earlier in the summer during previous meets.



Ten of the 12 entered for Saturday most recently raced at tracks other than Canterbury, including Saratoga Race Course, Monmouth Park, and Parx Racing in the east, Del Mar in Southern California, and Northlands Park and Woodbine in Canada.



Long On Value was fourth in the Hall of Fame Stakes (gr. IIT) at Saratoga Aug. 8 and will be ridden by Chris DeCarlo. Wachtel Stable and George Kerr's son of Value Plus was second in the Arlington Classic (gr. IIIT) in May.



General Jack, winner of the 2013 Shakopee Juvenile Stakes, will be ridden by Francisco Torres and is trained by Michael Maker as the 9-2 second choice. The Giant's Causeway   colt won the listed Centaur Stakes at Indiana Grand Racecourse in July before finishing seventh most recently in the Secretariat Stakes (gr. IT) Aug. 16 at Arlington International Race Course.



Afortable, pegged at 5-1 for trainer Chris Block, won an Illinois-bred allowance test by 2 1/2 lengths Aug. 23. He earlier finished third in the Arlington Classic.



Argyle Cut (8-1) looks to rebound from a sixth-place finish in the La Jolla Handicap (gr. IIIT) on the Del Mar turf Aug. 9 for trainer William E. Morey. He was second by a neck to Enterprising in the one-mile Oceanside Stakes to open the summer season at Del Mar.



Local trainer Robertino Diodoro has entered Bay of Biscay (10-1), Edison (10-1), and Magic Cash (15-1).



Also on the Saturday program is the $75,000 Shakopee Juvenile Stakes, which attracted 10 2-year-olds for the six-furlong main track sprint. It is the ninth race.