SHAKOPEE, MN – A crowd of over 6000 gathered under clear skies and beautiful weather to launch the 30^thseason of racing as Canterbury Park.

Trainer Tim Padilla kicked off the evening with Thealligatorhunter continuing his impressive race to the Canterbury Hall of Fame, winning for the 12^th time in 29 starts and pushing his career earnings toward the $400,000 mark. Alsonso Quinonez was aboard the Padilla/Pete Mattson homebred in what was to be the first of his two wins on the card. He also won the third aboard Bergsrud homebred, Overly Lucky.  Both were Minnesotans beating open company.

Another two-time winner on the card was Franklin Ceballos, riding a pair of trainer Ron Westermann’s horses to victory on the opening day card. The Ceballos/Westermann team won the second with Dixie Girl To and the fourth with Shake Up.

The Canterbury Park blog revealed that this was the first time Westermann has ever won two races on a single card in Shakopee.

Luis Fuentes also scored a riding double aboard Honorable Mischief (Coty Rosin) in the sixth and Hi Yah (Matt Williams) in the nightcap.

Minnesota bred horses won two of the five open races on the card.

The average field size on opening night was a robust 9.25 per race with the two turf races attracting 10 and 12 starters, respectively.

Winning mutuels included winners paying $30.80, $28.20 and $24.40.  The first of the night’s Pick Four paid $10,153.45 and the opening Pick Five paid $14,411.45

Total handle was a solid $1,071,735 with $234,225 wagered on track.