Canterbury Park racing officials continue to unveil changes that will position it as one of the most horseplayer-friendly tracks in the country. In April it was announced that takeout had been restructured for the upcoming meet, making Canterbury’s takeout the lowest in the nation on average. Canterbury Park officials today announced more news related to the 2016 season which begins May 20.
In an effort to provide the most current wagering information to bettors, win odds will be updated at 10-second intervals when there are less than 10 minutes to post. As a result of this change, Canterbury Park will have the fastest-updating win odds in North American racing. Currently, most tracks update at intervals averaging 30 seconds.
“Late shifts in odds are one aspect of pari-mutuel wagering that has proven extremely frustrating to the bettor,” Director of Racing and Mutuels Andrew Offerman said. “As technology has improved, more and more wagering is happening closer to post time. We are proud that, in conjunction with United Tote, we’ll be able to provide much more accurate win odds to our customers. Ten-second update intervals may not entirely solve the problem; however, we anticipate that this improvement will be well-received by all customers wagering on Canterbury Park,” Offerman said.
Canterbury’s visual appearance is receiving an upgrade as well. Live racing will now be broadcast in High Definition.
“High Definition is becoming the industry standard,” Vice President of Racing Eric Halstrom said. “The investment in the HD transition is worthwhile. It is what today’s customer expects and deserves in the viewing experience.”
The $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby, Canterbury’s premiere race, will now be run on Saturday, Aug. 27 rather than the previously announced date of Aug. 28 to avoid a conflict with the NFL. The preseason schedule for the local NFL franchise, the Minnesota Vikings, was announced in April with a home game, the first in the new U. S. Bank Stadium, being played Aug. 28. First post on Saturday, August 27 will be 6:00 p.m.
“This is a Minnesota Vikings market, and we share the excitement and enthusiasm for the inaugural game in the new stadium,” Vice President of Marketing John Groen said. “By moving the Mystic Lake Derby, our biggest race of the season, sports fans in the Twin Cities can choose to enjoy both events.”
Three other stakes originally scheduled for Aug. 28, the Brooks Fields, HBPA Distaff, and Careless Navigator, will also move to Aug. 27.
A new wager, the Turf Top Five, will be offered exclusively on Canterbury Park’s turf races and requires bettors to correctly select the first five finishers of that race in exact order. Races taken off the turf will result in a cancellation and refund of the wager. In 2015, Canterbury Park boasted average field size of 9.00 starters per race on its grass course. The base bet for the Turf Top Five is 50 cents.
The base bet for the Pick 3 has been reduced from $1 to 50 cents. There will also be rolling $1 Doubles beginning with the first race each day. The Pick 4 will continue to carryover when there are no correct tickets, however the carryover will go to the corresponding Pick 4 on the next race day rather than intra-card.
For Pick 3 and 4 wagers, should a race be subject to a surface change once a wagering sequence has begun, that leg of the sequence will become an ALL win and all selections in the surface-altered race will be deemed winners for wagering purposes.
For more information about Canterbury Park’s 69-day race meet, May 20 – Sept. 17, go to www.canterburypark.com .
