Canterbury Park

Last updated
Canterbury Park
Canterbury Park Logo.jpg
Location Shakopee, Minnesota
Coordinates 44°47′22.67″N93°28′48.36″W / 44.7896306°N 93.4801000°W / 44.7896306; -93.4801000
Owned byCanterbury Park Holding Corporation
Date openedJune 26, 1985
Race typeThoroughbred
Notable races Claiming Crown
Official website
Canterbury Park Holding Corporation
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  CPHC

Canterbury Park (formerly Canterbury Downs), is a horse racing track in Shakopee, Minnesota, United States. Canterbury Park Holding Corporation ("Canterbury Park") hosts parimutuel wagering on live thoroughbred and quarter horse racing at its facilities in Shakopee and parimutuel wagering on races held at out-of-state racetracks that are simulcast to the racetrack. In addition, the Canterbury Park Card Casino operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is also regulated by the Minnesota Racing Commission. Casino games include blackjack, baccarat, Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, and poker. Canterbury Park also derives revenue from related services and activities, such as concessions, parking, admissions, and programs, and from other entertainment events held at the racetrack. Furthermore, Canterbury Park is pursuing a strategy to enhance shareholder value by developing approximately 140 acres of underutilized land surrounding the racetrack in a project known as Canterbury Commons. The company is pursuing several mixed-use development opportunities for the underutilized land, directly and through joint ventures.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Canterbury Park hosted the Claiming Crown of horseracing for 10 of its first 12 years of existence, through 2010. The inaugural Mystic Lake Derby, offering the largest purse at the track since 1991, was run on July 28, 2012. The race was won by the 3-year-old Hammers Terror in a time of 1:37.18 over the one-mile turf event. [1]

A two-week series of poker tournaments, Fall Poker Classic, is held each fall at Canterbury Park.

History

Parade ring at Canterbury Park Canterbury Park paddock.jpg
Parade ring at Canterbury Park
Canterbury Park at night Canterbury Park at night, Oct 2017.jpg
Canterbury Park at night

Canterbury Downs was founded by Walter Brooks Fields Jr. and other investors. According to David Miller of the Daily Racing Form , "Fields, along with his nephew Brooks Hauser, formed Minnesota Racetrack Inc. after a constitutional amendment allowing parimutuel wagering on horse racing was approved by Minnesota voters in 1982. Naming Santa Anita as its primary partner, Minnesota Racetrack Inc. was awarded the state's first racetrack license by the Minnesota Racing Commission, and the facility in Shakopee held its first race on June 26, 1985. The introduction of the state's lottery and the widespread growth of casino gaming at Native American-hosted facilities in the area saw Canterbury Downs business repeatedly fall below revenue projections, and the track was sold in 1990 to Ladbroke Racing PLC." [2]

In 1990, Ladbroke Racing Corporation bought Canterbury and renamed it New Canterbury Downs. In December 1992, it closed its doors after a disastrous live racing season that saw an enormous drop in attendance. In late 1993, Canterbury was bought by Irwin L. Jacobs, who quickly sold it to Curtis and Randy Sampson. Shortly after the sale, the Sampsons worked to revitalize Canterbury, so that it reopened its doors to simulcasting, and it quickly paid off its debt. In late 1994, Canterbury carried out a promise to return live horse racing to Minnesota. In January 1995, Canterbury Downs officially changed its name to Canterbury Park.

In 1999 the legislature authorized a card room with poker tables at Canterbury Park. This had the effect of allowing poker tables at the state's Indian tribe casinos as well. [3]

Due to the 2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Canterbury was forced to close. [4] Ramsey County District Judge Kathleen Gearin rejected a court case by Canterbury's owners to reopen it. [5] Canterbury Park reopened on July 20, 2011, when the government shutdown ended.

In June 2012, Canterbury Park and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, owners and operators of Mystic Lake Casino, announced a 10-year cooperative marketing and purse enhancement agreement that added $75 million to horsemen purses. [6] The deal was not renewed after it expired on December 31, 2022. [7]

Canterbury Park also hosts corgi dog races, wiener dog races, and the annual Running of the Bulldogs.

Staff members include KFAN radio personality and Vikings announcer Paul Allen and Bally Sports North commentator Kevin Gorg.

In 2019, Canterbury Park was the site of the Twin Cities Summer Jam. [8]

Near the end of the 2023 race meet, Canterbury Park director of racing Chris Merz announced that the track would eliminate the runup for races–the distance between the placement of the starting gate and the location where timing of the race begins–in an effort to be more transparent and present a better product to gamblers with the advent of sports betting in the country. [9] About two weeks later, Merz announced that he had resigned from Canterbury Park and a track spokesman said that the decision to eliminate the run-up would be reconsidered. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parx Casino and Racing</span> Horse racing venue and casino in Pennsylvania, US

Parx Casino and Racing is a Thoroughbred horse racing venue and the largest casino gaming complex in Pennsylvania. Parx is located in Bensalem Township in Bucks County, northeast of the city of Philadelphia. Owned and operated by Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, Inc., Parx features 24-hour gaming with over 3,200 slot machines, 188 live table games, a poker room with 48 poker tables, live racing and simulcast action, sports betting, several dining options and bars, and the Xcite Center. Parx also offers online gambling and online sports betting along with off-track betting at two locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racino</span> Combined casino and horse racing venue

A racino is a combined race track and casino. In some cases, the gambling is limited to slot machines, but many locations are beginning to include table games such as blackjack, poker, and roulette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community</span> Indian tribe community in Scott County, Minnesota, United States

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is a federally recognized, sovereign Indian tribe of Mdewakanton Dakota people, located southwest of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, within parts of the cities of Prior Lake and Shakopee in Scott County, Minnesota. Mdewakanton, pronounced Mid-ah-wah-kah-ton, means "dwellers at the spirit waters."

Kentucky Downs is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, in the city of Franklin, Kentucky, just off Interstate 65. It is unique among American tracks in that it is a European-style course—its surface is all turf (grass) instead of dirt, and it is not oval in shape.

Ellis Park is a thoroughbred racetrack near Henderson, Kentucky, just south of Evansville, Indiana. It is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Incorporated. While the track is located north of the Ohio River that forms the border between Kentucky and Indiana, which would put it within Indiana, the border is based on the course of the river at the time Kentucky became a state in 1792.

Harrah's Hoosier Park Racing & Casino is a racino including a standardbred racetrack located in Anderson, Indiana, approximately 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The facility features live harness racing from April through November, casino gaming, restaurants, a gift shop, and entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tampa Bay Downs</span>

Tampa Bay Downs is an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility located in Westchase in Hillsborough County in the U.S. state of Florida, just outside Tampa. It opened in 1926 under the name Tampa Downs, and has also been known as Sunshine Park and Florida Downs and Turf Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort</span> American casino

Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, formerly Oaklawn Park Race Track, is an American thoroughbred racetrack and casino in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is the home to "The Racing Festival of the South", a four-day series of races that concludes with the Arkansas Derby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort</span> United States historic place

Mountaineer Casino Resort is a thoroughbred racetrack and casino resort located on the Ohio River north of New Cumberland, West Virginia. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Century Casinos. It is notable for being the first race track in the United States to get slot machines and become a racino.

Churchill Downs Incorporated is the parent company of Churchill Downs. The company has evolved from one racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, to a multi American-state-wide, publicly traded company with racetracks, casinos and an online wagering company among its portfolio of businesses.

Delaware Park is an American Thoroughbred horse racing track, casino, and golf course in Stanton, Delaware. It is located just outside the city of Wilmington, and about 30 miles from Philadelphia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack</span>

Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack is a greyhound racino located on Wheeling Island in the middle of the Ohio River, which is a part of the city of Wheeling, West Virginia. It is located just off the Wheeling Island exit of I-70, about two hours east of Columbus, Ohio. The casino is also located approximately one hour southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Claiming Crown, inaugurated in 1999, is a series of eight races run under starter allowance conditions with purses ranging from $100,000 to $175,000. The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) together launched this event in cooperation with the Minnesota HBPA and Canterbury Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Casino at The Meadows</span>

The Hollywood Casino at The Meadows, formerly The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, originally (1963) just The Meadows horse-racing track, is a Standardbred harness-racing track and slot-machine casino which is located in North Strabane Township, Pennsylvania, United States, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Pittsburgh. After 44 years as a racetrack, the casino was added in 2007. The real estate has been owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties since 2016, with the business operations owned by Penn Entertainment since 2018, including a long term lease agreement to Gaming and Leisure Properties.

Xpressbet, LLC is a subsidiary of Stronach Group Company founded in 2002 and based in Washington, Pennsylvania. The company provides pari-mutuel action services that enable account holders to watch and wager on thoroughbred, harness, and quarter horse racing virtually. The company also provides handicapping resources, such as daily picks, wagering guides, newsletters, blogs, and columns. Xpressbet, LLC provides wagering services to nearly 200 racetracks in North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East. It also offers back-end or white label wagering services for other Account Deposit Wagering (ADW) suppliers.

Historical horse racing (HHR), originally known as Instant Racing, is an electronic gambling product that allows players to bet on replays of horse races or dog races that have already been run, using terminals that typically resemble slot machines.

Mystic Lake Casino Hotel is owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) in Prior Lake, Minnesota, United States, southwest of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. With 4,100 employees, the SMSC – including Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and Little Six Casino – is the largest employer in Scott County. The casino's gambling options include slots, bingo, video roulette, pulltabs, and live dealer blackjack. Mystic Lake also offers bars, restaurants, shows, special events, and accommodations.

Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of Massachusetts include casinos, sports betting, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, the Massachusetts Lottery, and charitable gaming. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission regulates commercial operations under state jurisdiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gambling in California</span>

Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of California include cardrooms, Indian casinos, the California State Lottery, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, and charitable gaming. Commercial casino-style gaming is prohibited.

Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of New Hampshire include the New Hampshire Lottery, sports betting, parimutuel wagering, and charitable gaming. The state's Gaming Regulatory Oversight Authority (GROA) is part of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, which also maintains an Investigative & Compliance Division.

References

  1. ↑ Shinar, Jack (28 July 2012). "Hammers Terror Nails First Mystic Lake Derby". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Site Index" . Retrieved July 20, 2008.[ dead link ]
  3. ↑ "Gambling in Minnesota" (PDF). Minnesota House Research Department. March 2005.
  4. ↑ "What's open, what's closed: your guide to the state shutdown". Minneapolis Star-Tribune. StarTribune. 2011-07-02. Archived from the original on 2011-07-03. Retrieved 2011-07-03.
  5. ↑ Von Sternberg, Bob (2011-07-03). "Judge: Zoo can open, but no horse races". The Minneapolis Star Tribune. StarTribune. Retrieved 2011-07-03.
  6. ↑ Fiecke, Shannon. "$75 million deal: Canterbury, tribe shake hands". SWNewsMedia.com. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  7. ↑ Blount, Rachel. "Canterbury Park announces trimmed thoroughbred stakes schedule". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  8. ↑ "Summer Jam prices drop". swnewsmedia.com. 2019. Retrieved 2019-07-13.
  9. ↑ Hegarty, Matt (17 October 2023). "Canterbury to time races straight from the gate, eliminating 'run-ups'". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  10. ↑ Hegarty, Matt (31 October 2023). "Merz resigns position at Canterbury Park". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
Horse race Canterbury-Shakopee-20070707.jpg
Horse race
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.