Canterbury Park Race 7 July 19th 20 horse field
 

They are running a battle of the surfaces where 12 horses are on the turf and 8 are on the dirt.

the turf race is 1/16 The dirt race is 1 mile

any thoughts on advantage turf or dirt ? I am thinking that if the turf horses have to run an extra 1/16 of a mile big advantage to the dirt horses.

Good luck to the starter

I hope those dolts who run the BC don't learn of this.

It's tough to determine this from the entries. The race is carded for a 1 1/16th Turf with 12 entrants and 8 MTO's. It just appears to me like they were expecting the race would be off the day the entries drew.

Is there a link to the promotion? This is preposterous.

Here's some of the other nonsense that is going on with the race, but no real details on the website.

EXTREME RACE DAY
Saturday, July 19, 2014
First Horse Race: 12:45 PM
Presented By The Minnesota State Lottery

Don't miss all the fun and excitement of Extreme Race Day! Enjoy camel races, ostrich races, Zebra races and of course, horse racing too! The first horse race goes off at 12:45 PM.

Extreme Race Day just got a little more extreme as Buffalo Wild Wings presents The Extreme Wing Eating Challenge. Register here to participate!

Plus, it's a special Family Day at Canterbury Park, which includes pony rides, face painting, and petting zoo for the kids.

Camel Race After Race 3

Ostrich Race After Race 5

Battle of the Surfaces (Race 7)

Zebra Race After Race 8


But if it brings more folks to the track, I guess that's good. I've been out there a couple of Friday nights and while the attendance seems ok, people just do not bet any $$$. The pools are way too small it seems to generate a significant advantage.

Canterbury Park’s Extreme Race Day, now in its eighth year, will be held Saturday, July 19. Exhibition races with camels, ostriches, and zebras have become the main draw on Extreme Day, last year’s attendance was a record 20,291, but this season the program will include the return of ‘The Battle of the Surfaces.’ This pari-mutuel race will feature 20 horses, the largest field in North American racing in 2014, competing against each other simultaneously at one and one-sixteenth miles on the turf and one mile on the dirt.

The two starting gates will be staggered so that the final time of the race is approximated to be the same for both the turf and dirt. Canterbury Park officials have analyzed the varying speed of the turf and dirt courses as well as the class of the horses competing, and have judged that the closest finish would result from the turf horses racing an extra one-sixteenth of a mile. The starting gate stalls will open in unison and it will be up to handicappers to determine which horses will be the best when the horses finish at the same finish line in front of the grandstand. Twelve thoroughbreds have been entered for the turf and eight for the dirt.

Each horse will be an individual betting interest with win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, and superfecta wagering offered. The order of finish will be determined by best finish position regardless of which surface the horse is racing on, so it is possible to have an exacta payoff comprised of a horse racing on the turf and a horse racing on the dirt. The Battle of the Surfaces will be the seventh race on a 10-race program.

Canterbury Park was the first track to successfully attempt such a race when it debuted during the 2007 Extreme Day. The following year the starting gates failed to open simultaneously and The Battle of the Surfaces seemed doomed. Canterbury’s Vice President of Racing Operations Eric Halstrom is determined to make it a success this Saturday.

“We showed that this could work in 2007 and the fans loved it. We were disappointed the next year when the gates did not open together, but it was technology that failed us not the race,” Halstrom said. “We have tested and tweaked the gates and the distances to make this an exciting event that race fans will only experience at Canterbury Park and believe we are creating the most unique wagering opportunity in the history of racing for handicappers across the country.”

The 2014 Kentucky Derby field had 19 horses. This 20-horse field of Battle of the Surfaces will be the largest in the country this year.

Calder used to do something very similar.

I hope there's a 9 way photo for first. #Stupidity

Just look at the sponsor.

I say in five years they will run the BC mile races simultaneously.

Mountain Dew Xtreme Dual Course Horse Racing

Clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Duuuude

I've been playing Friday nights - not as regularly as I'd like but I am not passing up a 14% horizontal rake. One of the best values available today. It also helps that a some of the Tampa trainers/jocks summer there, so there's a built-in familiarity with some of the horses/trainers/riders.
Love the small track feel, and Paul Allen's calls are contagious - I really enjoy the overall product.

Putting aside this gimmick, I love the turf racing at CBY. I may try to visit next year, as the poker room sounds nice, too. It has been a while since I bagged a new-to-me track. Scheduling issues probably make this year's meet impossible.

Traditional fans might not like the concept, but Extreme Race Day draws huge crowds. I was at Canterbury last year for this event and it was the biggest crowd I've ever seen there. Randy Moss (the announcer not the football player) was in attendance. There's some credibility right there.

That was two separate races, one turf and one dirt, run simultaneously.

I have never gone to the races to watch zoo animals race. Call me weird.

I knew that CBY mile races were slow, but I didn't realize how slow they were. The current betting fav ran 1:42 3/5 for 8f in his last start, while the lowest priced turf runner ran the exact same time for 8.5f.

Well the dirt horses dominated.
6-1, 30-1, 42-1, 56-1.

Will be interesting to see how this race is charted.

Considering the dirt race was only an 8 horse field -- and the shortest price dirt horse won the race at 6/1 ... what a great bargain that price was if you...

A.) You knew the dirt horses would get to the wire first, as they logically were supposed to do.

B.) Liked the clear-cut favorite in the dirt race, and thought he was a deserving favorite.

Assuming you came to those conclusions ... that race offered a tremendous betting opportunity.

Take the betting favorite (of the dirt horses) ...wheel him over the only other 7 dirt horses and you get...

Exacta: $462.20

Trifecta: $11,373.80

Superfecta: $1,591.53 for every 10-cents ($15,915.30 for a buck)


If you think about it, those are big exotic prices for a race with just an 8-horse field where the post time favorite won. The 5th choice finished 2nd. And the 6th choice finished 3rd.

Wasted opportunity, I guess. Race seemed so gimmicky and weird, that it was hard to trust what "Abt 8.5 furlongs on the Turf" actually meant in terms of gate placement.

Was hard to trust the gates would open at the tight time

At first I thought too for sure that the dirt horses had the advantage. However, early on in the wagering some of the turf horses were huge overlays and I also saw that the times were actually pretty competitive. Only took a shot in the race because it was such a fun gimmick.