Canterbury Requests 70 Racing Dates for 2015

Canterbury Park submitted a request to the Minnesota Racing Commission for a 70-day live racing season in 2015 Oct. 23, up two days from this year. If approved, the meet would be the longest since 1992 when the track raced 87 days under previous ownership.

"Horse racing and breeding in Minnesota is as strong and popular as any period in recent history, and I expect the popularity to continue to grow," Canterbury Park president Randy Sampson said in a release. "We have found a schedule that works very well and look forward to running a 70-day meet in 2015, the longest since we reopened the racetrack in 1995."

Purses this year totaled a record $13 million and are expected to increase 5% for the 2015 season because of the cooperative marketing and purse-enhancement agreement reached in 2012 with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The deal will supplement purses by $75 million over a 10-year period.

"Breeding increased as purses increased, which means more horses in Minnesota in the coming years," Sampson said. "We also saw trainers and owners that had not raced at Canterbury coming here and experiencing success. There will be more new faces in 2015, and with those new faces come more jobs in the industry."

Canterbury Park, in a joint public-private collaboration, joined forces with Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Valleyfair, Minnesota Renaissance Festival, the tribe, and the cities of Shakopee and Prior Lake to promote entertainment opportunities that exist in the southwest Twin Cities. The region is now called RiverSouth, Land of Big Fun.

"Canterbury Park is an integral part of this community, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area each summer," Sampson said. "All businesses and residents in the area benefit from the strength and success of the entertainment venues that comprise RiverSouth. This new unity of public and private entities will pay off for everyone."