Saturday's event, which has been hosted by Canterbury Park for nine of its 11 runnings, is the biggest racing day of the season at the Shakopee track. Some facts about this year's edition:
What: A series of seven races for claiming horses, with total purses of $600,000
When: Saturday, first post 1:30 p.m.
Admission: free
The schedule: The card's 11 races include the Claiming Crown, the $100,000 Lady Canterbury Breeders' Cup Stakes and the $18,450 Central Region Starter Allowance Challenge for quarter horses. The quarter horse stake is race 2, followed by the seven Claiming Crown races and the Lady Canterbury.
The Claiming Crown races: The $50,000 Iron Horse, 1¹/ miles; the $50,000 Express, six furlongs; the $75,000 Glass Slipper, six furlongs, fillies and mares; the $75,000 Rapid Transit, six furlongs; the $100,000 Tiara, 1¹/ miles on turf, fillies and mares; the $100,000 Emerald, 1¹/ miles on turf; the $150,000 Jewel, 1¹/ miles.
The jockeys: Some of the country's top riders will compete at Canterbury on Saturday, including Russell Baze, the winningest jockey in history with more than 10,500 victories. Baze has five mounts in the Claiming Crown. Other stars include Julien Leparoux, who leads the nation in purses earned with more than $9.3 million in winnings this year, and Rosemary Homeister Jr., who earlier this week earned her 2,138th career victory to become the second-winningest female jockey in history behind Julie Krone.
The Lady Canterbury: This 1-mile turf race drew seven entries, including a filly who has won nine of 11 lifetime starts. The 4-year-old Euphony, trained by Donnie Von Hemel, has won six stakes races in a row and never has finished out of the money.
