By T.D. Thornton
Canterbury Park in Minnesota has emerged as the latest track to take a stab at wooing Triple Crown champion American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile).
According to Eric Halstrom, Canterbury's vice president of racing operations, track management is considering completely overhauling and raising the purse of an existing non-graded stakes race by a factor of 10 to lure America's most sought-after horse.
Halstrom said the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby at one mile on the turf Aug. 29 would be moved to 1 1/8 miles on the dirt for a purse of $2 million, with a possible date shift to suit American Pharoah's connections.
“This is far from some publicity stunt,” Halstrom said. “We have a path to make the purse work. We have a path to change conditions of the race to make sure they would suit American Pharoah. And we have the support of our local horsemen.”
Halstrom said the proposed $2 million purse–equal to the purse of the GI Kentucky Derby and a $500,000 greater than each of the GI Preakness and Belmont S. purses–would be made possible by a partnership with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC), which has a contractual agreement with Canterbury to fund purses through off-track casino revenues in exchange for Canterbury not pursuing racino legislation.
“We're unique in that we have some financial resources that maybe some tracks don't, Halstrom said. “[SMSC] have made to secret that they want to make a splash with the Mystic Lake Derby and take it to another level. I don't think there's a better way to take it to another level than to make a pitch for the greatest racehorse in the world and to try and bring him to your racetrack.”
Attempts to reach members of Zayat Stables, LLC, the owner of American Pharoah, were unsuccessful prior to deadline for this story.
“I've gotten hold of Justin Zayat, and he did nothing to close the door,” Halstrom said. “I told him it was mostly just to let him know that we're going to come forward with something, and he was very respectful and very appreciative that we're making an effort. The ball is in our court to get back to him with what the details are exactly, and we're finalizing that now.”
The richest race ever held at the Minnesota track (when it was called Canterbury Downs) was the St. Paul Derby, which was run for $300,000 on four occasions between 1986 and 1990.
One Kentucky Derby winner has raced at Canterbury before, albeit before he won the Derby: Unbridled ran second in the 1989 Canterbury Juvenile S. The colt's owner Frances A. Genter had Minnesota connections. Unbridled is a great-grandsire of American Pharoah.
As currently scheduled, the Mystic Lake Derby is the same date as the GI Travers S. at Saratoga Race Course. That date is four weeks after American Pharoah's presumed next start in the GI Haskell Invitational S. at Monmouth Park.
Canterbury has already realigned the date of the Mystic Lake Derby once this year, to dovetail it with the Midwest Indian Horse Relay Championship, a three-day bareback riding event run on the Canterbury main track that celebrates the cultures of Indian nations of the Great Plains.
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