Canterbury Park’s 67-day race meet, which began on May 3 and concluded Monday, recorded a slight decrease in attendance compared to last year’s record season and a drop in daily average on-track handle.

Average daily attendance of 5,388 represented a decrease of 1.6 percent compared to 5,476 for the 2007 race meet. Average daily on-track handle was $206,688, a decline of 8.59 percent compared to last year.  These decreases echoed slumping results across the racing and entertainment industry as consumers continue to face rising costs and a weak economy. 

“We knew coming into this season that it could be a difficult summer considering the economy, gas prices, and the fact that for the first time we had competition in our market from another racetrack, Running Aces Harness Park, which conducted live and simulcast wagering during our race meet.” track president Randy Sampson said. “We were pleased that in spite of these factors, our loyal race fans continued to come to the track and we were able to attract new fans. They just had fewer dollars in their pockets to wager with,” Sampson said.

Import handle, which is out-of-state wagering on Canterbury Park’s races, was a bright spot of the Canterbury meet, increasing by 2.64 percent. The increase can be attributed to the return of Claiming Crown and increased distribution of Canterbury’s racing signal to wagering sites throughout the country.  Claiming Crown, which returned to Canterbury Park after being hosted by Ellis Park in 2007, has historically been the largest handle day of the live race meet.

Canterbury Park’s 2008 race meet contained one fewer day of racing and 15 fewer total races than 2007, while the average number of starters per race increased 1.86 percent to 7.76.

“We were pleased to put out a quality race card day after day with strong fields thanks to the ongoing support of our horsemen,” Sampson said. “While an increasing number of racetracks in the Midwest are able to offer higher purses due to slot revenue, we must rely on our solid relationship with our horsemen.  We are proud that our horsemen-friendly reputation has allowed us to stay competitive in recruiting stables.”

Mac Robertson won his fourth consecutive thoroughbred training title with 77 wins. Derek Bell was the champion thoroughbred rider for the sixth time. He had 93 wins. S E J Stables Inc. (Curt and Sharon Johnson of Detroit Lakes) won the thoroughbred owner title for the third consecutive year with 32 wins.

Ry Eikleberry set a single-season quarter horse riding record with 26 wins and won his first title. Edward Ross Hardy won his eighth quarter horse training title with 19 victories. Al and Claire Lundgren of Plymouth tied Jim Olson of Andover with six wins for the quarter horse owner title.

Eagle Storm was named the 2008 Horse of the Meet. The 5-year-old won five races from six starts including the $75,000 Claiming Crown Rapid Transit. Trainer Bernell Rhone brought Eagle Storm to Canterbury from Tampa Bay Downs and won twice. He was claimed in his second local start by Justin Evans for S E J Stables for $20,000 and went on to win three more races for the new connections.