We need to be the best at the minor leagues that we can. ![]() “I said to everybody even back then, that’s the model for horse racing. And he was just the master at creating an entertaining atmosphere. ![]() “People would go there and they didn’t really care who won or lost the game. Paul) Saints around that same time, getting lots of press for all the goofy stuff that he did,” Sampson said. “From the beginning, I had a lot of respect for Mike Veeck, who was starting with the (St. Instead, the track chose to target younger patrons, developing the next generation of bettors. Without that, said Halstrom, the track by now “would be on life support, no question.” The track spent millions lobbying to become a racino - a combination racetrack and casino - before finally giving up in 2012 and approaching Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. ![]() That same night a 79-1 shot paid $161 to win, a track record. Last Thursday’s $1.26 million handle, more than $1 million of it bet at casinos and tracks nationwide that pick up Canterbury’s simulcast TV signal, marked the track’s highest for a weeknight. That deal has meant higher purses, which brought better horses from out of state, and more interesting races, which gamblers love. It was a savvy marketing strategy - focused on attracting young people instead of hard-core gamblers, plus a thriving 24-hour card club - that kept the track in business until the Mystic Lake deal guaranteed solvency through 2022. “But until they say no, it’s hard to turn the opportunity down if it exists.” ‘It wasn’t like we had it all figured out’ “Respectfully, we need to get some sort of response to know if we’re still legitimately in the game or not,” Halstrom said. 29 over Canterbury, sparing Halstrom the nightmare of wedging an anticipated record crowd of 30,000 to 40,000 into a facility equipped to handle 17,000. 2, and chances are that Zayat will choose the $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. Last week, American Pharoah committed to race in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, Zayat’s home state, on Aug. ( Those aware of Zayat’s longstanding financial issues will understand why.) Trainer Bob Baffert opposed it, but Canterbury Park Vice President Eric Halstrom said Zayat has yet to say no. With things soaring, last month the track took a what-the-hell flier on Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, offering a $2 million purse (same as the Kentucky Derby) for the annual Mystic Lake Derby in late August if owner Ahmed Zayat brought his horse. The crowds bumped the daily average to 6,641, putting Canterbury on pace for its fifth consecutive season of averaging 6,000-plus per day. Over the July 4 holiday weekend, Canterbury drew more than 40,000 visitors, including 7,657 for racing on Thursday and 20,376 for fireworks on Friday - a track record. Even before it signed a landmark 10-year cooperative marketing deal with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community - owners of Mystic Lake Casino - in 2012, Canterbury was bucking industry trends with steadily rising attendance. Yet modest Canterbury Park, which went broke as Canterbury Downs in 1992 before Curtis and Randy Sampson bought and revived it three years later, is thriving. ![]() “It doesn’t feel like you’re even at a racetrack any more.” “At a lot of tracks, you feel like you’re walking into an empty bingo hall,” said Robertino Diodoro, Canterbury’s leading trainer last year. Other than Triple Crown races or the Breeders Cup, racing crowds are so small that most tracks no longer even announce daily attendance figures. Hialeah Park, once the jewel of Florida racing, limps along running quarterhorses. Hollywood Park in Southern California and Suffolk Downs in Boston both closed in the last year. Horse racing is in freefall nationwide, as casinos and online gambling cut into handles (the total amount bet) and profits. And on the second floor of the grandstand, a toddler plays on the floor of a quiet lounge, 30 feet from a horseplayer with an open laptop monitoring six simulcast screens. The squeal of happy kids climbing a massive Jungle Jim 20 paces from the paddock almost drown out announcer Paul Allen’s race call. Buck Night, with its $1 admission, $2 hot dogs and $3 drafts, has brought out thousands of millennials and young families. It’s tough to find gray hair in the Thursday night crowd at Canterbury Park, the thoroughbred racetrack in Shakopee.
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