Canterbury Park

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Canterbury Park Racing Schedule: Thursday through Sunday Racing Dates 2008: May 5 - September 3 Post Times: 7:00 p.m. Thursday & Friday 1:30 p.m. Weekends & Holidays Canterbury Park Location: Shakopee, Minnesota Canterbury Park Official Website: www.canterburypark.com

Canterbury Park Facts:

As horse racing tracks go, Canterbury Park is a very young one at just around 25 years old. In 1982, Voters in the Minnesota area approved an amendment that allowed pari-mutuel betting. Two years later, ground is broken for Minnesota's first and only pari-mutuel racetrack. The name chosen for the horse racing track was Canterbury Downs. More than 1,000 Minnesotans sent in name recommendations for the new horse racing track. Finally, the Canterbury Downs opened in 1985. In the following year, the Canterbury Downs experienced a banner year. The track was sold in 1990 to Ladbroke Racing Corp. However, it closed its doors just two years later.

The next two years saw the track change hands. Finally, in May of 1994 the Canterbury downs re-opened in limited fashion under the new ownership. Live racing was still nowhere to be found. 1994 was a great year for local horse racing fans. First, the Canterbury Park Holding Corp. put together a public offering and made Canterbury Downs one of the few publicly owned horse racing tracks in the country. Second, live horse racing action was planned for the following year. In January of 1995, the name of the track was changed to Canterbury Park and as promised, live horse racing returned to Canterbury Park.

In the first year back, 306,000 horse racing fans come out to the track. The action is beamed nationwide via satellite. Thanks to the government making the first $12 million in pari-mutuel wagering tax-exempt, Canterbury Park showed a profit. The park began holding special events to increase revenue. Canterbury Park would go on and have a string of consecutive profitable years. Did you know that Canterbury Park was home of the election night party for Gubernatorial candidate Jesse Ventura? Today, the Canterbury Park is home to great horse racing betting action and entertainment events. Racing takes place on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and the holidays from May through the beginning of September.

Canterbury park also includes a card club which offers Poker and Casino Games. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week offering a variety of games including Texas Hold'em Poker, 7 Card Stud Poker, Poker Omaha and more.