Canterbury Park has unveiled enhanced incentive programs to attract race-ready Thoroughbreds to its upcoming meeting. The programs are designed to reward those that arrive and start horses early in the meet, pay more purse money to all starters throughout the 66 days of racing, and help with costs of shipping through a loan program.
Under the incentives, every Thoroughbred starter in all overnight races will be guaranteed 1% of the purse, or $250, whichever is greater with the intent of providing purse money to cover a greater percentage of race-day costs. In addition, every Thoroughbred starter in all overnight races during the first condition book (May 3-June 2) will earn an additional $250 participation bonus.
Canterbury Park will again offer a shipping loan program to qualified applicants who arrive prior to the start of the 2019 racing season. Shipping loan applications will be due with stall applications and will be reviewed by the stall allocation committee. The committee will authorize up to $25,000 per owner to cover the cost of horse transportation to Canterbury Park. The loan will be repaid through an agreement between the successful applicant and Canterbury Park. Full terms and conditions are available with the 2019 stall application.
“Competition for horses is fierce across the country,” track president Randy Sampson said. “Shipping horses from meet to meet is a cost of doing business, but it is also an upfront cost that can create a cash-flow challenge. With the loan program, we are looking to erase that barrier, help trainers ship their stock to Canterbury, and with the purse structure here, repay that loan throughout the meet.”
Canterbury's 2019 season opens May 3 and the first condition book, listing races to be run through June 2, is now available. Total purses are projected to exceed $14.25 million, with a per-day average of approximately $215,000.
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