SHAKOPEE, MN – Canterbury Park’s 2019 live racing schedule will frame up similarly to the 2018 schedule with racing commencing on May 3, Kentucky Oaks Day, and ending on September 14. There will be a one week break in the racing season from July 18 – July20 to accommodate the Twin Cities Summer Jam music festival in the track infield with headline entertainer Tim McGraw.
“We are well into the planning stages for the 2019 racing season, encouraged by the continued advances we have made in racing quality and by the well-received investments we have made in the guest experience at Canterbury Park,” Director of Racing Andrew Offerman said.
The Minnesota Racing Commission is expected to take up the date request at their December meeting.
“Canterbury Park’s presence in the pari-mutuel market as a quality summer racing product continued to be reflected in handle numbers as 2018 handle was a record $48.1 million, up more than 10 percent from 2017,” Offerman said. “That is more than double the handle number of $24 million posted in 2010, the last full meet prior to our purse enhancement agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. I expect that we will see strong numbers again in the coming year as more horse owners and horse players are drawn to racing at Canterbury Park.”
The track is currently in the midst of it’s 10-year, $85-million deal with the SMSC. The agreement runs through 2022. Purses in 2019 are expected to run at approximately $215,000 per day or $14.25 million over the meet.
Canterbury has conducted a complete renovation of the main track surface with the goal of bringing it back up to the much heralded standards of 1985.
“We recently concluded a significant renovation project on the main track’s racing surface, bringing it to its original 1985 specifications,” Offerman said. “We are also continuing with improvements to the facility, both inside and out, that will prove popular with race fans. A redesign of the Canterbury Card Casino is underway, making it more inviting to the racing public as it opens into the grandstand bringing with it enhanced and expanded food and beverage options that can be enjoyed by all guests.”
Significant changes are already underway outside the racetrack as well with the beginning of phase I construction for Canterbury Commons beginning at the site of the former Sievers Corn Maze.
