SHAKOPEE, MN – Memorial Day will kick off the start of quarter horse season at Canterbury Park with the running of the $35,000 Bob Morehouse for Minnesota breds. The stake is a 350-yard dash and features three time defending champion Dickey Bob.
Dickey Bob is a 6-year-old gelding owned by Lunderborg LLC and trained by Jason Olmstead. Olmstead is gunning for his fifth straight Morehouse, who also won in 2017 with Vodka at Moonlight. Ed Ross Hardy has the most Morehouse training winners with seven. First Class Smarty (Hardy/Tad Leggett) is the only other horse to have won the Morehouse more than once.
The 5/2 morning line favorite’s only race in 2021 was 6th place finish in a Remington Park allowance after a gate mishap had him declared a non-starter. It’s a certainty that the accomplished gelding will be ready to answer the bell here Monday night.
Breeder/owner Dan Kjorsvik will have a pair of contenders out of his thoroughbred mare, Holy White Socks: stakes winner Holy Storm and last year’s Minnesota Futurity winner Corona White Socks out of the Patrick Swan barn. Both have prepped at Remington with Holy Storm sneaking in an extra race at Sam Houston, narrowly missing in the Governor’s Cup Marathon at 870 yards.
Ed Ross Hardy’s entry in the Morehouse is Western Reserve, a 3-year-old sorrel filly who is three for five in her career and came within a head of being four for five, just missing against Corona White Socks in the Minnesota Futurity.
A couple of other interesting tidbits in the Morehouse includes the return to Canterbury Park of jockey Doug Frink aboard Johnee B. Frink suffered a broken leg last July in a training accident at Canterbury. His first start back will be in the Morehouse.
Another interesting story is the addition of Alex Canchari to the riding pool for the Morehouse. He’ll be riding Living in the Past for long-time friend and former jockey Brayan Velazquez. Canchari’s last quarter horse assignment was piloting Holy Storm to a second-place finish at Prairie Meadows in the Grade 3 Covered Bridge stakes last year.
The Memorial Day post time will be 5 PM Central Time with the Morehouse slated as the 9th race on the ten-race card.
