SHAKOPEE, MN – Saturday’s Minnesota Festival of Champions Day this will feature stakes action from front to back with nary a palate cleanser in between.

Eight consecutive stakes races will be featured on the card beginning with a pair of Quarter Horse stakes and then six consecutive Thoroughbred Stakes. The entire card will be made up of Minnesota bred horses and drew a total of sixty-one entries.

The evening will kick off at 5:12 PM with the 350-yard Minnesota Quarter Horse Futurity followed by the 400-yard Minnesota Quarter Horse Derby. Both Quarter Horse stakes carry a purse of $40,000 plus added money from nomination fees.

The Thoroughbred stakes will commence in race three with the $75,000 Northern Lights Futurity contested at six furlongs. The filly two-year old championship (Northern Lights Debutante) will be two races later in race five.  Both baby sprints carry a purse of $75,000.

Sandwiched in between the two-year-old races is the $50,000 Blairs Cove Minnesota Turf Championship (race 4).  This will be the first turf race of the evening going a mile and a sixteenth.

The filly and mare turf race, the $50,000 Princess Elaine Distaff Turf Championship, will be race six and will also go a mile and a sixteenth.

The night will finish off with a pair of sprint championships, the $50,000 Bella Notte (filly and mare) and Crocrock (colt and geldings) Minnesota Sprint Championships. Both will go six furlongs over the main track.

We will preview the races as the week moves on. You can view all the entries below.