Shakopee, MN – A rare, though not unheard of, April blizzard blanketed the upper Midwest over the weekend bringing as much as 20 inches of snow to parts of central Minnesota. Before the last flake fell, however, Canterbury Park was already at work removing the snow from the facility in order to welcome horsemen this week in preparation for opening day, Friday, May 4th.
As of Wednesday, the snow has been removed from the main and training tracks and now crews can begin work getting them ready for training and racing.
The stable area will open Friday, April 20. The training track is scheduled to be open on Monday, April 23.
Andrew Offerman, Senior Director of Racing, said in a Tweet that crews are working hard to make the main track available by Wednesday, April 25.
A major concern with the snowfall for horsemen is the opportunity to conduct the timed workouts required to make horses eligible to start racing. In response, Equibase will allow timed workouts on the training track until the main track is open.
While southern Minnesota was experiencing another 5-8 inches of snowfall Wednesday, the Shakopee area was only expecting an inch or two. Weekend temperatures are forecast to reach 60 degrees and higher into next week and will finally put Mother Nature in a position to assist rather than hinder the track’s efforts.
