Owner makes four trips to the winner's circle in Canterbury Park's opening day of racing

For a Minnesota racehorse owner, there's nothing quite like winning the first race of the season at Canterbury Park. Unless you also win the second, and the fourth, and the eighth.

Pete Mattson quadrupled his fun Tuesday on opening night at the Shakopee track, kicking off a 65-day season by winning four of the nine races on the card. Mattson, of Prior Lake, waved about a dozen friends into the winner's circle to pose with Elusive Amelia following her 3/4-length score in the first race. Before the night ended, he made return trips with Astronaut Oscar, Owen's Pleasure and Thealligatorhunter.

"Just fantastic," Mattson said. "It's going to be a very tough meet this year, because the quality of horses keeps getting better. This is a great way to start."

Better still, Mattson and his pals didn't have the place all to themselves. About 2,500 fans — the maximum currently allowed — showed up for opening night, as Canterbury took its first step toward reopening to large crowds. The card attracted total wagering of $1.85 million, with $138,517 bet at the track.

John Groen, Canterbury's vice president of marketing, said it was "incredibly hard" last year to hold 53 days of live racing in relative silence as state COVID mandates limited attendance to fewer than 1,000. Tuesday night's crowd wasn't big by Canterbury standards, but it rekindled a bit of the lively atmosphere of past openers.

"The people are back. The energy is back," Groen said. "We're hearing from a lot of people who are back for the first time after not being here at all last year. We're seeing regulars in their usual spots.

"We missed that. It's really good to see."

Tuesday's card featured large fields, with an average of nine horses per race, and the restoration of some traditions quieted by the pandemic. Bugler Lynn Deichert returned to play the call to the post. Fans lounged in the bleachers surrounding the paddock, which were mostly vacant last summer.

They applauded when the gates sprang open for the first race, when Elusive Amelia started Mattson's streak. The filly poked her head in front of Gemstone Gal on the final turn and outlasted her down the stretch. After the race, jockey Alonso Quinonez didn't even have to change silks; he hopped on another Mattson horse, Astronaut Oscar, and guided him to a ½-length victory with Mattson hollering encouragement from the track apron.

Owen's Pleasure brought him back to the winner's circle for the third time in two hours. At odds of 2-5, she looked like a beaten favorite in the fourth race until she kicked into gear in the home stretch and blew past Ghost of Genevieve.

That race was the highlight of the night for Andrew Offerman, Canterbury's vice president of racing. For the first time since 2019, he heard the crowd noise swell as the horses zoomed down the stretch.

"It sounded like true energy in the building, something we haven't felt for a very long time," Offerman said. "It was a goosebump moment."

Thealligatorhunter romped in the eighth to give Quinonez his third victory and push Mattson's opening-night purse earnings to $86,100. Though Canterbury doesn't keep statistics on most victories by an owner on a single race card, longtime track officials could not recall anyone winning four in one day.

Mattson finished third in the Canterbury owner's standings last season, with 12 victories in 74 starts and $282,904 in earnings. He won the first race of that meet, too, with a horse he co-owned with Barry Butzow. Only 250 people were allowed to attend last year's opener because of state COVID-19 restrictions, at a track designed to hold 25,000.

Tuesday was much more memorable, for reasons beyond his four victories.

"We had a group last year that got together out here, but it wasn't the same," Mattson said. "To get the fans back, that's what we've all been hoping for. That's what makes Canterbury special."