SHAKOPEE, MN – Mr. Jagermeister (2.20) was sent off at 1-9 and produced $167,004 in wagers in a show pool of $204,817 in the $50,000 Vic Myers Stakes for 3-year olds at Canterbury Park on July 4th. He didn’t disappoint. In fact, he never came close to disappointing. He broke alertly under Leandro Goncalves and edged to the lead, galloping easily.
By the top of the stretch the Valorie Lund trainee had opened up 3 1/2 lengths and simply cruised to a 6 1/4 length victory, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 90 in the process. Goncalves never asked the son of Atta Boy Roy and any urging was clearly never needed.
“He came out of the Mystic Lake Derby so good we thought that unless something should happen, he should win the race,” said Lund. “The plan was for Leandro to give him a clear path and try and make sure that nothing crazy happened.”
While the Myers is traditionally the prep for the $100,000 Minnesota Derby, initially Lund was unsure of Mr. Jägermeister’s next stop.
“Are we going to try and go somewhere and sprint or go a mile here?” said Lund immediately after the race. Although Friday it appeared that Lund had softened that stance some, indicating to the Daily Racing Form that Mr. Jagermeister would most likely be running in the Minnesota Derby.
Speeding Kid (2.40) was second and Watertonian (2.20) was third. Mr. Jagermeister covered the six furlongs in 1:09.23.
While Mr. Jagermeister was returning on eleven days rest, Simran (8.40) returned in just five to capture the $50,000 Frances Genter Stakes.
Under Leslie Mawing, Simran stalked the early pace set by Cabloosie Bay and then eventual runner up Vidira (5.20) and surged to the lead entering the lane like she’d been off for a month and won by a length and quarter in 1:11.30.
The victory gave trainer Roopishshwar Rampadarat his fourth win in eight starts at the meet.
Betting favorite Firstmate (2.20), never in contention, finished third.
Earlier on the Independence Day card, Kowboy Jim (10.00) gave Canterbury newcomer Nakia Ramirez her first local stakes win in the $49,410 Bank of America Canterbury Park Championship.
“I love it here,” said Ramirez. And not only because of the stakes win. “The people have been great to me. They’ve all become like family.”
Kowboy Jim will now carry the Canterbury flag to the Championship series final at Los Alamitos in the fall, a particularly daunting burden considering the last two winners of the Championship at Canterbury, The Fiscal Cliff and AJs High, have gone on to win the Final.
