Excitement Running High in Advance of Season Opener at Canterbury Park

Canterbury Park got off to a slow start in quarter one, but official are expecting a strong finish for the 2013 season, which begins this Friday.

The season opener kicks off with the $50,000 Lady Slipper Stakes, and will run until Sept. 14—the longest season since 2006. In a release from the company, Randy Sampson, Canterbury Park's President and Chief Executive Officer, said the park's prospects for 2013 were good, though number from the first quarter lagged a bit. Net revenues during the first three months of the year topped out at $9,144,568, a 4.8 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2012.

Canterbury partly attributed the decline to inclement weather. This winter was unusually harsh, whereas last winter was unusually mild, track officials said. The long onslaught of snow and bitter cold drove away customers and resulted in many a cancelled simulcast as well.

Nevertheless, Sampson said he was optimistic about the upcoming season, thanks to agreements with two key players. The first is in St. Paul: The park will benefit from 2012 legislation that increases the revenue potential of the track's Card Casino.

The track also hashed out an agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, an erstwhile opponent in the racino debate. The two have now joined forces, with the tribe pitching in millions to increase purses at the Canterbury. The influx of cash has already had a pronounced effect on horsemen. Canterbury reports that it received stall applications for over 2,500 horses this year. All of the 1,600 stalls will be filled in 2013—a first in the track's history. 

Sampson added that fans seem t be responding in kind.

"Another basis for our optimism is the outpouring of enthusiasm from our race fans," Sampson said. "We believe our Kentucky Derby day handle of over $1.6 million on May 4, 2013, which was a Canterbury Park record and an increase of over 20 percent compared to 2012, is an indication of the enthusiasm of our horse racing fans."