Canterbury Park Strives To Recover From Weather Woes
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The storms have taken their toll on our yards, basements and in some cases, our nerves.
But at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, the storms have hit hard in some different ways. In a rare move, they canceled races a few weeks back and then they had to do it again, according to Marketing Director John Groen.
"Cancellation isn't something we want to do but it's been something we've had to do a couple times," Groen said. "The winds out here were howling at 60 mph, we had a tree come down, we had the roof rip off. It was just a matter of both our customer safety and the horse safety."
Groen says groundskeepers have had some extra work, too. They have sealed and re-sealed the track to try and keep the rain from saturating the dirt.
The staff is prepping for a list of weekend festivities. They will be having extra races for an important reason.
"The horsemen make their living based on being able to run, so we have a few more races carted the next few days," Groen said.
Times have been challenging for some of the horses as well. Canterbury racehorse trainer Victor Hanson says sometimes the severe weather spooks horses and puts them on edge. He says the finishing times have sometimes been slower because of the weather.
Groen says they've got a big Fourth of July celebration planned - from wiener dog races to free hotdogs to fireworks.
They'll even have some extra races to make up for lost time.
"There's still a lot of summer left, a lot of time to make up ground," Groen said.
Because if anyone knows a winner can come from behind, it's them.
