SHAKOPEE, MN – The 26th annual Minnesota Festival of Champions takes place on Sunday, September 1 at Canterbury Park and will feature the richest lineup of Festival Day races in history. Each of the six thoroughbred stakes will carry purses of $100,000 and the two quarter horse stakes will be worth $50,000. Factoring in the other state bred races Sunday and the total purse value of the day is $865,000.
QUARTER HORSE STAKES
Kicking off the day will be a pair of quarter horse stakes, the Quarter Horse Futurity (350 yards) and the Quarter Horse Derby (400 yards).
In the Futurity, the inaugural Cam Casby Futurity winner Beep Beep Zoom Zoom is the 3-1 morning line favorite and most of that field is entered here. Kool Attempt broke his maiden last out at 300 yards, earning a 66 speed index. He’s had some time away but if he comes back with an improvement from that race will put him right in the mix here. Runner up to Kool Attempt in the maiden breaker and an also ran after a bad start was Dirt Road King. A solid break and an extra fifty yards should suit the gelding well.
Holy Storm faced a brothers buzzsaw last out in the Cash Caravan, finishing third to Pyc Bite Mydust and Dickey Bob, both accomplished multiple stakes winners. Another that was runner up to Dickey Bob is the morning line favorite, Jess Doin Time, who was only a head away from winning the Bob Moorehouse Stakes last out. He seems to like the 350 distance and should be prominent.
THOROUGHBRED STAKES
The Northern Lights Debutante for 2-year old fillies will be the first thoroughbred stake on the card. The babies will go six furlongs over the main track. The Deb looks to be a battle of early speed versus late run.
The heavy favorite should be Defend the Rose, a homebred from Bruce and Mary Malkerson, who debuted spectacularly on July 25 with a 6 3/4 win on the front end and earning a field best 64 Beyer Speed Figure. Rush Hour Traffic comes in off of an impressive maiden victory as well, closing smartly late over the slop to draw off by 5 1/2.
Three maidens dot the Northern Lights Futurity along with four youngsters coming fresh off their maiden wins. While Li’l Ninja, trained by Hall of Famer David Van Winkle, broke his maiden in impressive fashion on June 30 in his career debut, Happy Hour Cowboy, a Bob Lindgren homebred, scored after just missing in his career debut, earning a field best 51 Beyer in the process. In the debut, Happy Hour Cowboy came up just short to Big Falcon Rocket, who will be breaking from post two. The other winner in the field, You Say So, is one for one in his career for trainer Joe Sharp.
All will be adding a new dimension in the Futurity, adding an extra furlong to their experience with none having tried longer than five yet.
Juggernaut Mr. Jägermeister entered the Minnesota Sprint leaving Hot Shot Kid as the 5/2 morning line favorite. The Kid has been on fire this season, faltering only once at Canterbury in the Dark Star Cup, winning all four state bred starts. The Warren Bush homebred has utilized a stalk and pounce technique effectively under both Francisco Arrieta and Orlando Mojica, who gets the ride today.
Fireman Oscar closed very sharply in the off the turf Blair’s Cove and came within a half length of upsetting Hot Shot Kid in the slop the way he throttled the field in the rain in the off the turf Honor the Hero at 25-1. He’ll have to tackle Hot Shot Kid over a fast and dry track this afternoon.
[The Great Casby returns to Minnesota for the first time since last year’s Festival Day having plied his trade in the Mid-Atlantic the past year, logging two wins and three thirds and earnings of $53,770. Should the pace falter late, he’ll be looking to pick up the pieces.] NOTE: The Great Casby is a scratch
While the Minnesota Sprint is filled with talented horse like Mister Banjoman, Dame Plata and Cinco Star, the race looks to belong to Mr. Jägermeister. The four year old son of Atta Boy Roy started his 2019 campaign with back to back third place finishes as the favorite in Phoenix but exploded at Oaklawn for a 2 3/4 length win in a $62,000 optional claimer earning a 96 Beyer before being shelved for several months with a nagging foot issue. He came back to the races on August 17 at Colonial Downs taking the field of the $100,000 Chesapeake Stakes gate to wire impressively, notching a 97 Beyer, seemingly not having missed a step since Oaklawn. It would be surprising if the he gets even close to the 8/5 morning line and not surprising to see the bridge jumpers loading up in the show pool.
Worth noting: oft-claimed Mines Made Up is the only other entrant in the Sprint that earned a Beyer of 90 or better, tallying that mark two starts back in and open $20,000 optional claimer where he was claimed from Robertino Diodoro and moved to the David Van Winkle barn. After a lackluster turf try, he’s back sprinting over the dirt.
Impressive 3-year old Ready to Runaway comes into the mile and a sixteenth Distaff Classic on a three race winning streak taking both the Frances Genter and the Minnesota Oaks after being claimed for $25,000 by trainer Mac Robertson for owner John Mentz.While she won the Genter wire to wire, when she stretched out to a mile and a sixteenth for the Oaks, she stalked the early pace and dominated through the lane.
Last year’s winner, Pinup Girl, has had a difficult time living up to her impressive, multiple stakes winning four year old season but has taken some time off to prepare for Festival Day and will be back on the dirt after a pair of turf tries.
Princess Elaine runner up Maywood Hope showed a lot of heart in that off the turf race, dueling the venerable Honey’s Sox Appeal through the stretch but failed by a neck in very game effort and earned a return trip to the dirt course.
In the final stake of the day, the top earning mare at Canterbury Park, Honey’s Sox Appeal, will look to become the first four time winner of the Distaff Sprint, which would break a tie with the only other three time winner, Bella Notte. She should be on the lead early, but she won’t be alone.
Ari Gia, winner of six of eleven races in 2019 including the Lady Slipper Stakes, is another with early speed. After a gate to wire win in an open $25,000 optional claimer she took on the boys in a $4000 starter allowance but never got untracked and settled for third.
A wild card in the race is the rail filly, Wild Munny. She has four lifetime starts: two dirt sprints and two grass miles. While she didn’t take to the grass in her middle two races of the season, the bookending dirt sprints were impressive wins. She broke her maiden by 9 3/4 in late June and, last out, smoked the boys in state bred allowance, this time winning by 10 3/4. While a lot of money will rightly go to Honey’s Sox Appeal, Wild Munny could be a sneaky play at a decent price.
Post time for Minnesota Festival of Champions Day is 12:45.
