Indian Horse Relay Championship also on 5:00 p.m. racing program
Three $50,000 turf stakes, the Minnesota HBPA Distaff, the Brooks Fields Stakes, and the Mystic Lake Turf Sprint, will be co-features on Saturday’s thoroughbred race card that begins at 5:00 p.m. at Canterbury Park. The stakes will be run as races three through five on the nine-race program, which also includes the Indian Horse Relay Championship.
The Turf Sprint, at five furlongs on the grass course, drew a field of eight including 5 to 2 morning line favorite Satellite Storm, trained by Valorie Lund and ridden by Leandro Goncalves. The locally-based 5-year-old found his best form since racing twice, and winning both times, on the turf course this meet. Kentucky shipper Angaston, 7 to 2, will be ridden by Eddie Martin, Jr.
The Brooks Fields, at a distance of one mile on the turf, is headed by Nobrag Justfact for trainer Eric Heitzmann. The 4-year-old colt won the $100,000 Mystic Lake Mile locally before finishing ninth in the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap at Arlington Park in suburban Chicago. Martin, Jr. has the mount. The race is named in honor of the late Brooks Fields, CEO of the Shakopee, Minn. racetrack when it originally opened in 1985.
Seven entered the Minnesota HBPA Distaff, at one mile on the turf, including defending champion Molecules, trained by Brian House and ridden by Martin, Jr. Also in the field is 5 to 2 morning line favorite Beach Flower, winner of the $100,000 Lady Canterbury on June 22. She is trained by Hall of Famer Mac Robertson and will be ridden by Dean Butler. A $25,000 guaranteed Pick Four pool that includes the three stakes races, will begin with the second race.
Indian Horse Relay, North America’s first ‘extreme’ sport, involves teams of four Native American riders dressed in colorful regalia racing bareback around the track on a series of three horses, exchanging them at high speed in front of the grandstand. Presented at Canterbury Park 
by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community each summer since 2013, this sport dates back more than 400 years. Horses were traditionally very important in Native American culture, and relay racing was an activity to test the horse, rider and team. Fourteen teams representing various tribes from Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Washington and Idaho, will compete for prize money. The Championship will feature the seven qualifying teams from heats held during racing Thursday and Friday evenings.
