SHAKOPEE, MN – Stan Bowker, the first General Manager of Canterbury Downs and, later, the resurrected Canterbury Park, died earlier this week in Clearwater, FL.
Bowker was a third of a legendary stewards booth at Canterbury Park that included the late David Hooper.
“I don’t think we realized it at the time,” said Canterbury Park CEO Randy Sampson, “but we had a great stewards booth. Both men were first class gentlemen: so knowledgable and easy to deal with.”
Both men were also award winning stewards who dedicated a large parti of their time teaching others.
When Sampson’s Canterbury Park Holding Company purchased the the Canterbury Downs and was preparing to reopen, influential track backer and attorney, Bruce Malkerson, told Sampson that he needed to bring in Bowker to get things up and running.
Bowker was a wiz in getting racetracks up and running and in putting Canterbury Park in a position to succeed was no exception.
“Looking back, I appreciate more and more the job Stan did in getting us open,” said Sampson. “I was busy with politics and trying to get the company public and he just went ahead and built this from scratch: hoping and training people in about five weeks to handle 8,000 people for our simulcast reopening on Kentucky Derby Day. It was really an incredible job.”
“Stan was a teacher and a leader,” said Sampson. “When he was a steward and I’d bring a group through, I always told them that ‘Stan was the guy who taught me everything I know.’ And that wasn’t just running a racetrack – it was about dealing with people and becoming a leader.”
“Stan always rooted for Canterbury and was very complimentary about what we tried to accomplish here,” added Sampson. “He was a wonderful man and we would have never gotten up and running without him.”
For more details on Stan’s impressive career: https://paulickreport.com/news/people/award-winning-steward-commissioner-stan-bowker-dies
MTA Stallion Auction Stakes
In what may be the final MTA Stallion Auction Stakes, Lake Bee raced gate to wire in the six-furlong $40,000 Stakes Saturday night. Alfredo Barajas rode the Oklahoma-bred 3-year-old gelding for owner, breeder and trainer Miguel Silva. Lake Bee improved his record to five wins from 16 starts and $151,967 in earnings. Silva previously won the MTA Stallion Auction in 2018 with Speeding Kid and in 2022 with Royals’ Lil Diva.
As the odds-on favorite in the scratch-depleted four-horse field, Lake Bee paid $3.60 to win. Tapiture’s Lady finished second, 5 3/4 lengths behind the winner. Konteekee was third and Barbsdreamcometrue was fourth. Call’em All was scratched and re-entered for Sept. 21. Lil Chilly was a post time scratch
