SHAKOPEE, MN – Last night the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame inducted the Class of 2023: jockey Ry Eikleberry, owner Bob Lothenbach and gelding Mr. Jagermeister.

Eikleberry first rode at Canterbury Park in 2006 after beginning his career at the age of 16 the year before at Arapahoe Park in Denver. He quickly matured as a rider, winning multiple Canterbury titles first with quarter horses then with thoroughbreds. He was champion quarter horse jockey in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and won the thoroughbred riding title in 2014, 2018 and 2020. Eikleberry retired at the end of the 2022 Canterbury meet, winning the final race of the season. He is third in all-time thoroughbred earnings at Canterbury with $13,163,965 in purses and fourth all-time in wins with 723. Eikleberry is second all-time in wins and earning with quarter horses.

Eikleberry gave his dad credit for help getting started. “There was only one guy who would ride me those first few races,” he recalled. “I was terrible. But I got better and then Doug Oliver started to ride me and then I started riding for more and more trainers.”

Eikleberry related a story as a freshman high school wrestler he had basically given up during a match against a much more accomplished senior. “I tried and tried during the first period but he kept beating on me.  Finally, in the second, I let him pin me.”

His coach was able to pull the admission out of him the next day and from that moment forward, Eiklberry never gave up again. Throughout his career, no one ever outfinished him in a race and no one could ever accuse him of not putting out maximum effort. That kind of work ethic and drive carried him to a Hall of Fame career.

“I’m not going to lie,” said Eikleberry, “it was a difficult decision to retire.  I love horse racing, but I love my family more. I would not have made it here without the love and support of my wife, Jilique. And those two little girls over there mean more to me than anything. It’s been great spending time together.”

Lothenbach, a Wayzata native, has raced at Canterbury and nationally at the highest levels for decades. He won his first Canterbury leading-owner title in 2002. Two years later Mayo On the Side, bred in Kentucky by Lothenbach, won the 2004 Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs with trainer Carl Nafzger. Lothenbach has owned nine graded stakes winners including additional Grade 1 winners Bell’s the One and Vacare.

Lothenbach’s familiar royal blue silks with red diamonds began appearing in the Canterbury winner’s circle on a regular basis in recent years. He has been the leading owner the past three seasons, setting an earnings record in 2022 with $1,521,176 in purses. Lothenbach has won more than 200 races at Canterbury with earnings in excess of $5.2 million.

“For a kid that grew up in Bloomington, five of us in a small house, to get here has really been something,” a clearly emotional Lothenbach said.

When Lothenbach was sixteen and seventeen he would beg off family trips to the cabin because he “had to work.”  The reality was that he would head to Chicago for the weekend and go to the races at Sportsman’s Park.

“Nothing was more special to me than racing,” he recalled,

“Randy Sampson has done a great job here,” Lothenbach continued. “If I ever have a Kentucky Derby horse, and I have a couple with that potential now, I promise you all that horse will run here after.”

Lothenbach recognized his children for being with him along the way and for coming out tonight to support him.

Mr. Jagermeister debuted in 2017 and quickly marked himself as one of the fastest 2-year-olds in the nation. The following season Mr. Jagermeister, owned by Kristin Boice, Leslie Cummings and trainer Valorie Lund (the three are sisters), won four Minnesota-bred stakes and was named Canterbury Park Horse of the Year, Champion 3-year-old and Champion Sprinter for 2018.

When he retired in 2022, Mr. Jagermeister had amassed more in career earnings, $700,839, than any other Minnesota-bred in history. He won the 2019 Chesapeake Stakes at Colonial Downs and the 2020 Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise in addition to seven Canterbury stakes. Mr. Jagermeister also won races at Oaklawn and Tampa Bay Downs and raced at Churchill Downs, Santa Anita, Keeneland and Prairie Meadows.

“He has been so much fun,” Lund said. “I trained both his sire, Atta Boy Roy, and his dam, Frangelica. They were both in the barn at the same time and I thought ‘they really should make babies together.’”

“Jagermeister was fast, but he was also sound, personable and a joy to train,” she noted.

After his two-year-old debut, a smashingly easy victory after breaking a step slow, Lund had a few offers to buy the colt, including one from the United Arab Emirates that was a “crazy” offer.

“Honestly, it was a really an offer that should have been accepted,” Lund laughed. “But this was our dream, to be able to run a horse like this, so why should we sell him?”

For fans, a full brother to Mr. Jägermeister will be coming to the races next year.

The Canterbury Park Hall of Fame was founded in 1995 to recognize people and horses that have made important and lasting contributions to the racing industry within the state. The selection committee consists of representatives of local horseperson organizations, media, and Canterbury Park.