SHAKOPEE, MN – One of the more popular days on the Minnesota racing calendar for fans is Canterbury Park’s “Extreme Day” featuring racing ostriches, camels and zebras. Officials at Canterbury have also got into the spirit of extreme day by carding unusual races as well as interesting twists. One year track announcer Paul Allen called an entire race while inhaling helium, for example.
In what has developed as the most popular equine races of Extreme Day, the Battle of the Surfaces will again take place on the card. The Battle of the Surfaces will pit both turf and dirt horses racing against each other in the same race over the different surfaces with distances adjusted in order to have the finish time of each surface as close as possible. This year the dirt entrants will travel a mile and 70 yards on the dirt and a mile and a 1/16th over the turf.
“We have tweaked the distances this year,” Director of Racing Operations Andrew Offerman said.” Last year the dirt horses dominated. “The condition of the turf course and dirt track are factors as is the class of the horses competing,” Offerman said. “We are hoping for the closest finish between the two surfaces that we can get.”
“We have continually made adjustments to the distances to make this an exciting and unique event that race fans and bettors will only experience at Canterbury Park,” said Eric Halstrom, Vice President of Racing Operations and initiator of the Battle of the Surfaces. “This really is a one-of-a-kind wagering opportunity.”
The race will feature 19 betting interests, the second largest field in North America behind only the Kentucky Derby. In addition to a complete wagering menu (win, place show, exacta, trifecta and superfecta), the race will also kick off the .50 Pick Five.
Additional races on Extreme Day will include the Duck Race for trainers that have started a race at the meet but haven’t won yet, a grass allowance for horses that haven’t won on the turf, the Dash in a Flash Stakes for Quarter Horses going 110 yards and the Spurt in the Dirt, a 2 furlong thoroughbred race.
First post is 12:45 and, as in most years, a large crowd is expected.
