Martin Bids Adieu By Winning Two Stakes

by JIM WELLS

Eddie Martin, Jr. says good-bye quietly, simply ending his first summer in Shakopee since 1985 by winning both ends of the co-feature races on Saturday. Then, he quietly slipped away without so much as a single word.

Actually, Martin slipped quietly back into town on Saturday after riding at Hoosier Park Friday, where he has four mounts on today’s card.
First, Martin rode Hunter’s Tiger Paw, a 3-5 choice, to victory in the $60,000 Minnesota Oaks on Saturday.

Then, as if to prove that odds don’t mean a thing when he’s on a horse’s back, Martin rode Tsar Tops Dancer to an upset victory at 25-1 in the $60,000 Minnesota Derby.
Martin avoided all but a couple of quick two or three-sentence interviews after races during the entire time he was at Canterbury Park.

His riding spoke volumes, though.

Nobody finishes on a horse any stronger than Martin.

Martin didn’t have a mount in the final stake on the card, the $28,000 North Central Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Futurity or he might have won that race, too. He left that one for Ry Eilkeberry, who drove Seis It Fast to an impressive but narrow victory over Chicks Gold Medal
Martin took the very talented Hunter’s Tiger Paw, trained by Cory Jensen, to an impressive 1 ½ length victory over Sasha’s Fierce as the odds-on favorite, in 1:42 and 4/5, to win the girls’ end of the feature events, the Oaks. Hunter’s Tiger Paw won that race gate to wire.

Martin came right back and rode longshot Tsar Tops Dancer to a driving 1 ¼ length victory over 2-5 favorite Bet Your Boots, who had a nose on Our Family Affair. The boys were a full second slower than the girls with a winning time of 1:43 and 3/5.

“Cory does such a great job with this horse,’’ said Joel Zamzow, the owner of Hunter’s Tiger Paw with his wife, Kris., shortly after the filly won her fourth straight race.

Hunter’s Tiger Paw will head now to Woodbine in Canada, where she won two of her previous three races. “We plan to bring her back here then for her four-year-old season,’’ said Zamzow, who spent Friday night in the barn with the winning filly, hoping to keep her calm. It apparently worked quite well. Then again, the Zamzows have been hands on with the filly since birth. Theyo bred and the filly and daughter Hunter, 9, named the horse as a suckling. “Look, ‘’ she said, “it has tiger’s paws.’’

Saturday, the filly roared like a Tiger from start to finish.

Meanwhile, the owners of Tsar Tops Dancer arrived at Canterbury Park not expecting to do any better than third or fourth and were delighted they had bet on their horse nonetheless.
“Now I wish I had bet more,’’ said Tim Becker, who owns the horse with partners Steve Adams and Keith Westrup.

Westrup actually raised Tsar Tops Dancer from a baby and brought the other two fellows in as partners.

Tsar Tops Dancer finished fourth in the Victor S. Myers Stakes at Canterbury on July 17, 8 ½ lengths behind the winner, Bet your Boots, who was trying to add to a two-race winning streak.
Saturday, however, there was a new element to the race. It was the first time the first three finishers had gone around two turns.

“To finish fourth the last race and then win a race like this…all I can say is ‘wow,’ ‘’ said Becker.

Eilkeberry got his horse to a ever so narrow victory in the quarter horse stake, urging Seis It Fast to the wire a hair’s breadth in front of Chicks Gold Medal, in :18.20.

The winner is owned by Bob and Julie Peterson and trained by Ed Ross Hardy.

SENTIMENTAL FAVORITE FINISHES THIRD
The sentimental favorite in race four on Saturday was Northbound Beauty, a three-year filly and the last foal from Northbound Pride, a member of Canterbury Park’s Hall of Fame.
A week ago Saturday, Northbound Pride was found dead, the victim of a storm-related accident the previous night. She and other mares were apparently spooked by thunder and began running. Northbound Pride ran headlong into a tree in the dark.

Ridden by Seth Martinez and trained by Troy Bethke, Northbound Beauty was sent off at 3-1 and finished third, behind 5-1 outsider Half Moon Lady and 4-5 favorite Citizens Issue.
Northbound Pride, nicknamed Pootie by her groom, Sherry Nolan, was buried where she lived, Shamrock Valley Farm, near Stillwater.

Northbound Pride Laid To Rest

by JIM WELLS

It's a simple race, Saturday's fourth _ $7,500 claimers going six furlongs.

But the horse in the No. 6 hole, a three-year-old named Northbound Beauty, should garner some sentimental backing in this one. She is a daughter of Northbound Pride, a member of Canterbury Park's Hall of Fame and one of the early stars of Canterbury Downs.

A week ago Friday, the night before the Claiming Crown, Northbound Pride was killed in a freak accident at Shamrock Valley Farm in rural Stillwater, where she had lived the last several years.
Northbound Pride's owners tried to piece together the evidence after she was found lying at the base of a tree on Saturday. Northbound Pride apparently set out running with other mares on the farm during a storm that produced loud thunder and ran headlong into a tree in the dark. The evidence suggests she died instantly.

Northbound Pride was bred by the late Vic Myers at his Northbound Farm outside Stillwater. She was a daughter of Proud Pocket from the Our Native mare Our Trelawny.

Northbound Pride ran in open company and on every kind of surface, turf or dirt, dry or wet and at any distance from a short sprint to a route of ground. She won 11 times, was second nine times and third nine times from 38 career starts and earned $213,983. She ran 22 times at Canterbury, seven times at Oaklawn Park, eight times at Arlington park and once at Louisiana Downs.

She won six of seven races at Canterbury as a three-year-old in 1989, including three stakes. She was the track's champion three-year-old filly that year and was in the running for Horse of the Meet, but lost out to Hoist Her Flag.

"I don't know of any horse like her,'' said Les Martens, one of Northbound's owners. "She could run any distance, on any surface. I think she only turned in one clunker, on a muddy, heavy track that was just drying out one day.''

Bob and Lisa Dainty own Shamrock Valley and found Northbound Pride about 10 a.m. on July 24 near the base of the tree she encountered in the dark.

They were still struggling emotionally with the horse's death as they talked about her a week later.

The Daintys conducted a memorial service for the horse as they buried her on the farm the evening of July 24.

"We covered her head in an Irish flag (for the farm and Lisa's heritage) and her body with a flag of a mare and baby that we fly during foaling season,'' Bob said.

Then the Daintys gathered a number of flat rocks and inscribed them with mementoes to the fallen horse. On one they inscribed the word "Poohdy,'' the nickname given Northbound Pride by her former groom, Sherry Nolan.

Bob Dainty said that the five mares who ran with Northbound Pride the night she died stood nearly motionless for hours a stone's throw from the gravesite as they dug it.

Lisa Dainty made a headstone of rock in the shape of a heart. "We just came from there about 20 minutes ago,'' Bob said Friday night, "and the mares were all gathered around the site. It's almost as if they're showing a kind of reverence.''

Family Life At The Racetrack

by JIM WELLS

There is one rule upon entering the tack room in Christine Riddle's barn. It is imperative that a visitor acknowledge Daisy, the 2-year-old Dachshund that is easily mistaken for a Jack Terrier.
Daisy doesn't appreciate going unnoticed and will let you know it.

Once Daisy's gotten the obligatory attention, all is cool and a conversation may ensue.

Riddle has a string of 18 horses in her stable, not bad for someone who's been on her own as a trainer since only last year. You get the impression after a short conversation _ with Daisy's consent naturally _ that the stable is destined to grow with the passing of time.
Riddle, 47, finds training horses child's play compared with raising seven children _ three of her own and four with a former boyfriend. "This is a breeze,'' she said Wednesday as her morning training session wound to an end.

Maybe it seems that way since it's so enjoyable. Riddle, who grew up in Eden Prairie, raised her children in Prior Lake, lived for a spell in New Prague and currently resides in Chanhassen, has had horses in her daily life since she was a child. "My parents put me on a horse when I was two,'' she said, "and they've been trying to get me off since.''

They might have tried harder had they any idea what she was doing as a youngster. She was in Eden Prairie somewhere jumping horses over hay bales. She fell off the first time, got a mouthful of dirt and climbed right back into the saddle. In later years, she showed horses, rode Western Pleasure, raced some barrels.

"Out of everything I've done in my life with horses, I like this the best,'' she said.

That became quite clear to her the other day when she and Liz Cates, girlfriend to Christine's son Devon, were walking a horse to the receiving barn before a race. Devon, who works on the turf crew at Canterbury, rode past in a four-wheeler, and Christine found herself thinking "this is great, this is what I want.''

It seemed truly a family affair.

For 27 years, Christine and her ex-husband ran the CC Riddle Hair Company with salons in Eden Prairie, Burnsville and Bloomington. She cut and styled hair the entire time, so one might expect that the tails and manes on her charges at Canterbury would have the latest cut and style.

"Oh, they might not run so well, but they'll look good for sure,'' she said.

She found herself at one point during her salon career spending more and more time with the horses, and less time with hair. "I wasn't doing justice to either,'' she said.

So, she took a leave of absence in 2007.

She is still on leave.

Christine will gallop a horse in the morning if necessary but prefers to leave that work to the people who make it their profession. "I'll still get on some babies here,'' she said, "and I'll ride some at the farm. But the last thing I need right now is getting dumped or run off with.''

Riddle injured some ribs a couple of years ago in an incident with a horse, badly enough that her two sons got a lesson in humility while helping mom recover. "They had to carry my purse through the shopping malls for me,'' she said.

Riddle has been at Canterbury since 2006 and previously did a little of everything that needed to be done in the barn with trainer Steve Kane, her significant other.

Her daughter Hannah, 21, is a senior at the University of Minnesota and is headed to Venezuela in August as part of a study abroad program. Son Joshua, 20 is majoring in music at St. Olaf. "All my kids are smarter than I am,'' she said. "Devon is the one with the street sense, a mechanical aptitude.''

He's also hounding his mother for a car. "He'll have to have the money,'' Christine said. "There won't be any loans given out.''

He's saving money from his work on the turf crew, right?

"He better be,'' she said.

So, family life at the racetrack sometimes doesn't seem much different than family life in the suburbs. At Canterbury it has come to include Christine's mom and dad, Sherry and David Anderson, still Eden Prairie residents. "They don't miss a race any time I have a horse running,'' Christine said.

Nonetheless, mom and dad are still concerned at times about their daughter making a living with racehorses. "They wonder about it,'' Christine added.

Suburbs or racetrack, parental concerns are parental concerns.

NEW ARRIVALS ON THE WAY?
Stall superintendent Mark Stancato was on the phone Wednesday morning with trainer Cecil Stewart, who was calling from Prairie Meadows. "He wanted to come here originally with five horses,'' Stancato said.

With the Prairie Meadows meet ending on Aug. 7, several trainers are looking for places to send their horses between meets. It appears that Stewart is one of them and Canterbury is high on the list.

"Wouldn't that be something if he shows up with the same five horses he submitted stall aps for this year,'' Stancato said.

Trainer Tim Gleason, who has run horses at Canterbury off and on over the years, also expressed interest in heading to Canterbury for the remainder of the meet with 20 head.

TAD LEGGETT BENEFIT
Tickets are available for a fundraiser and benefit for injured quarter horse rider Tad Leggett. The benefit will be held on Sunday, Aug. 8 and is sponsored by Arizonas at the Canterbury Inn. Leggett, who has ridden frequently at Canterbury Park was seriously injured in a spill at Fair Meadows at Tulsa. He underwent a nine-hour surgery on July 2 for spinal injuries.
Leggett, 45, was riding a mount that threw and then fell on him after the wire in a race on June 30.

He suffered upper spine injuries in addition to a broken vertebra.

Tickets for the benefit are $10 and include a BBQ Pork dinner at Arizonas from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 8. Live music by the Fanatics is included from 8 p.m. until closing.

Tickets are available from Jerry Livingston and other trainers and at various locations in the grandstand.

Judd Spicer Picks The Ponies

City Pages reporter Judd Spicer time with Kevin Gorg a couple of weeks ago, learning what it takes to be a public handicapper. He chronicled his adventure in this week's City Pages (on news stands now). Find the story here.

Young Trainers Leave Minnesota For Greener Pastures

By JIM WELLS

Perhaps two of the most telling examples of what’s happening to horse racing in Minnesota were on display Saturday during the 12th annual Claiming Crown.

Two young trainers who saddled winners once kept competitive stables at Canterbury Park. Now they have taken those stables elsewhere to chase better purses.

Imagine that the trainer in horse racing is a stock broker on wall street. He’ll put his client’s money where the best opportunities exist for a profit, for growth. If an investment fails, he moves the money elsewhere.

The trainer’s role isn’t much different. He needs to take his owner’s horses where they have a chance at a return on investment, as things are today sometimes merely to break even.
So Tammy Domenoksy and Jamie Ness were back at Canterbury on Saturday. Domenosky saddled Moralist, winner of the $50,000 Express. Ness saddled My Irish Girl, winner of the $75,000 Glass Slipper.

Canterbury has hosted 10 of the 12 Claiming Crowns and offers a day of purses such as Saturday’s only once all summer. Tracks elsewhere put up that kind of money on a regular basis.

Domenosky was ecstatic after Moralist was clearly the best in his race, but there is a hint of regret in her voice when she discusses her need to leave Canterbury for Arlington Park in suburban Chicago.

She keeps a stable of around 12 horses in Shakopee. “But those are my cheap horses,’’ she said. “There’s a lack of money here. It’s just a business decision.’ ’ She has as many as 30 horses in Chicago.

Ness was here most of the week and spoke frequently of how he missed the people of the Midwest. He currently has horses at Presque Isle Downs, Thistledown and Penn National.
Ness is a South Dakota native and prefers the atmosphere in Shakopee , but he, too, wants to compete for purses that enable his stable to not just survive but to grow.

“You have to go where the money is,’’ he said.

Ness loves Canterbury Park, the way management conducts business and the people here. He might still be here if Canterbury could compete to any extent with other tracks in the nation, particularly those who supplement purses with the proceeds from casino gaming.

Minnesota owners such as Jeff Hilger from Grant Township show up at Canterbury to watch their horses run via simulcast at tracks elsewhere in the country.

Mac Robertson makes winning training titles look easy at Canterbury but is in tougher this year after shipping some of his best horses to Delaware, where purse money has been substantially enhanced by racino profits.

Despite the good atmosphere in Shakopee, the respect for management at Canterbury Park and the general appeal of this area, the business climate for racing in Minnesota needs improvement.

CLAIMING CROWN NOTES:
Moralist ate up his feed on Saturday night and was munching on a mixture of hay and alfalfa when a visitor approached his stall Sunday afternoon.

Asked where he might be headed next, Domenosky replied, “a big field somewhere.’’

She is considering giving the horse a break after his thrilling win on Saturday .

“I’m not sure,’’ she said, “but he deserves some time off.’’ Moralist has been to Chicago, Lexington and Louisville in addition to Canterbury this year. So, in addition to racing, he has been on the road.

**Pat Dupuy and wife Jennie Rees were packing up early Sunday afternoon to return to Louisville. Dupuy trains Strike Impact, who finished third in the $150,000 Claiming Crown Jewel. Rees, who covers racing for the Louisville Courier-Journal, was licensed as groom and hotwalker for this event.

They had planned to return on Monday but their exercise rider, Winston Skaggs, had work waiting for him at home.

“It was a great experience,’’ Rees said. “The horse is fine. He ate up and looks good.’’
And next?

“We might look for a little stakes for him somewhere,’’ Rees said. “We’re not major bear hunting but we might do a little squirrel hunting.’’

**Lil Dish was in her stall in Doug Oliver’s barn on Sunday, still recovering from the race of her life.

“Oh, she’s tired today,’’ Oliver said. “She’s exhausted.’’

And well she should be.

Lori Keith put her on the lead directly out of the gate and tried to steal the $75,000 Glass Slipper against tough competition on Saturday. “She ran her heart out,’’ Keith said afterward.
Lil Dish dug deep and looked at the top of the lane like a winner but ran out of gas and racetrack and finished fourth.

“The race was a little too tough,’’ Oliver said. ‘She’s been running for $7,500 and those others for as much as $16,000 or more. That’s a pretty big jump.’’

Oliver said he hopes to run Lil Dish once more before the meet ends. Maybe not.

“She’ll need a few days off. She almost made us famous.’’

Claiming Crown Another Winner

By JIM WELLS

Forget the whispers behind shedrow, the explanations for trainers who no longer show up, the rumors of impending demise.

The Claiming Crown is alive and well, Virginia, although Canterbury Park seems the only venue that can keep it that way.

The 12th annual staging of this event for the nation’s claimers was a success by several measuring sticks, not the least of which was attendance on Saturday.

Tracks across the country are crying for patrons, looking for anything possible to put customers in the seats.

Saturday, a turnout of 11,473 showed up in Shakopee to watch this event that was first staged there in 1999.

Ten of the 12 Claiming Crowns have been held at Canterbury, all with impressive turnouts.
Highlights of Saturday’s show included two wins in the Claiming Crown by rider Israel Ocampo, who rode the winners of the Iron Horse and the Express.

Julien Leparoux also rode two winners, in the Emerald and the Jewel. Alex Birzer rode King A.J.,. the winner of the HBPA Sprint and capped his day aboard the winner of the Rapid Transit.
The leading owner of the day was Ken Ramsey, who had Headache in the Jewel and Inca King Emerald. Make it two wins also in those races for trainer Mike Maker.

Shane Sellers was late arriving for the card after his flight from Chicago was delayed by weather concerns and lost two winning mounts on the card, to Birzer in the HBPA Sprint and to Ocampo in the Express.

His trip was not wasted, though. He rode Never Retreat, the winner of the $100,000 Lady Canterbury for owner/trainer Chris Block.

$50,000 IRON HORSE
(1 mile 1/16 main track)

This race produced one of the grandest stories in Claiming Crown track history, a victory that summed up the intent and purpose of the event itself.
The late George Bango was walking on air after Superman Can did indeed win for owner Dana Isaacson, with Scot Stevens up. So a local trainer, rider and owner claimed the prize in 2004.
No such luck this time for trainers Dave Van Winkle, Red Rarick, Francisco Bravo or Dave Wolochuk.
Not even the 2-5 favorite, Sea Gaze, a ship-in from Churchill Downs, could catch front-running Roaring Home, who did just that under Daniel Centeno
“We wanted to be up front, maybe stay close,’’ said Centeno. “But my horse broke so sharply, and then they let us go.’’
Roaring Home finished ¾ lengths in front of Sea Gaze who had the same margin on 11-1 Benson in a gate to wire performance.
The winning time was 1:43 and 4/5 for the mile and 1/16 event. The winner did the first six furlongs in 1.11 flat.
The winner is owned by Maggi Moss and trained by Chris Richard.

$50,000 EXPRESS
(Six furlongs, main track)
This race produced the first winner with truly local connections. Moralist was too much horse, too well trained, too well ridden and too well owned to settle for anything less than the winner’s circle under substitute rider Israel Ocampa, who filled in for Shane Sellers, late arriving Sunday because of travel difficulties from Chicago.
It didn’t matter.
Moralist, trained by Tammy Domenosky, was simply the best horse in the race, moving to the lead at the head of the lane and then closing strongly to finish a length in front of Thegreatcrosby, who had 1 ¾ lengths on Churubusco. First the winner put away Esperamos between the eighth and sixteenth poles, and then held the Thegreatcrosby safe.
Domenosky became so engrossed in the race that she found herself running from the steps to the horsemen’s level of the grandstand to trackside as her horse led the way to the wire.
Asked by paddock analyst Kevin Gorg about her emotions during the race, Domenosky replied, “emotions? I’m still shaking.’’
The winner is owned by local stable Miracle Logistics. Spokesman Greg Peterson, one of the owners, was elated with the win. “Tammy did an excellent job,’’ he said. “We really have to thank (track president) Randy Sampson and (media relations manager/Claiming Crown coordinator/ad infinitum) Jeff Maday for getting us involved three or four years ago with the Canterbury college. We’ll always be Canterbury people.’’
Later, Pat Cuccurullo, agent for Shane Sellers, asked Domenosky if she wanted a martini. “No,’’ she said. She still had one to saddle. Besides, as she said after the race…”I feel great. I wish I could do this every day.’’
No martini could duplicate what she felt at that moment.

$75,000 GLASS SLIPPER
(six furlongs, main track)

My Irish Girl had the right rider, the Hispanic Irishman Ocampo, and she put on a late charge to win the six-furlong sprint in 1:09 and 4/5s, 1 1/2 lengths in front Margie Marie and 2 ¾ lengths ahead of Hawaiian Sky.
My Irish Girl was the first Claiming Crown winner for former Canterbury trainer Jamie Ness, closing with a rush to overtake the front-running sentimental favorite Lil Dish, trained by Canterbury’s Doug Oliver and ridden by Lori Keith.
Keith tried to steal the race, putting her sharp breaking mount directly on the lead. She stayed there until the stretch charge by the first three finishers and settled for fourth. “I thought she was going to steal it,’’ a bystander remarked. So did a number of folks, but Keith got all she could get out of her mount against a talented field. “She tried her heart out,’’ Keith said. “ At the top of the lane, I could feel her digging in and trying, but she was tiring and I could hear the other jocks coming.’’
The winner is owned by Midwest Thoroughbreds out of Chicago.

$75,000 RAPID TRANSIT
(six furlongs, main track)
The largest field of the Claiming Card, a field of 11, lined up for this six-furlong race, and Humble Smarty, with Alex Birzer aboard, got there first, by ¾ length over Red Pete, ridden by Eddie Martin, Jr., who had ¾ length on Max Ahead.
Owner/trainer Brett Creighton found the win a bit emotional and choked up trying to describe his feelings afterward.
“He’s a good horse, and he’s been very good me,’’ Creighton said. “He’s as honest as they come.’’
The winner tracked the early pace, never more than a length back of Max Ahead. Red Pete closed through the stretch but couldn’t catch Humble Smarty.

$100,000 EMERALD
(mile and 1/16 turf course)
The winner’s circle after the Emerald is nothing new to Ken Ramsey, who was there twice previously, in 2007 with One Eyed Joker and in 2008 with Self Made Man.
He made it three times on Saturday after Inca King, trained by Mike Maker, won for the 16th time in 34 career starts with a strong close to hold off Tiger Lake by 1 ¼ lengths under a perfect ride from Julien Leparoux. Elusive Schemes finished a nose out of second.
“It’s quite an honor win this race three times,’’ Ramsey said. “You guys put on quite a show up here. Everything is well done.’’
The winner finished in 1:37 and 1/5.

$150,000 JEWEL
(mile and 1/8, main track)

Guess who was back in the winner’s circle at this race! Ken Ramsey. With two of his grandsons.
With some prompting about the good-looking grandsons, Ramsey said “They’re good looking just like their grandfather.’’
It was Headache, a four-year-old gelded son of Tapit, who looked the best, however, with a masterful ride from Leparoux, who brought him from off the pace to catch Smarten Destiny a stride from the wire and finish first by a neck. Strike Impact was third under Shane Sellers, another neck back.
Ramsey was most pleased that his horse had overcome a fascination with second place. “He’s given me a headache with all those seconds,’’ Ramsey said.
Headache is now 5-5-2 from 18 career starts and broke his seconditis with a strong final 16th. Eddie Martin, Jr. had Smarten Destiny on the lead until the eighth pole when he started to weaken, but no horse is ever entirely done under Martin.
He brought his horse back to life inside the 16th pole to hang on for second.
Third place went to Strike Impact, longest priced horse on the board at 15-1 and the only horse in Pat Dupuy’s stable. He and his wife, Louisville-Courier Journal writer Jennie Rees (who hot-walked the horse during his stay in Shakopee), wanted a win naturally but figured they’d pay their expenses to the Claiming Crown with a fourth-place finish. They did better than that, claiming $15,000 show money.

Cuccurullo Returns Where He Once Ruled

by JIM WELLS

As records go it won't challenge DiMaggio's hitting streak, Marciano's undefeated career or John Henry's graded stakes triumphs.

Just the same, Pat Cuccurullo wouldn't mind providing the Claiming Crown with a footnote on Saturday.

Cuccurullo won three consecutive training titles at Canterbury Downs beginning in 1989 and later hustled book for Scott Stevens during Canterbury Park's first summer.
Today Cuccurullo has a farm in Shelbyville, Ky., where he handles layups. One of his best customers is Steve Asmussen.

Nonetheless, when he heard that the unretired Shane Sellers was headed to Arlington Park this year and needed an agent, Cuccurullo couldn't resist. "How many chances does a guy get to work with a rider who's won more than 4,100 races,'' Cuccurullo said.

Friday afternoon, Cuccurullo was en route to Canterbury Park after catching a ride from Chicago with trainer Tammy Domenosky, who will saddle Moralist in the Claiming Crown Express on Saturday with Sellers up.

Sellers is also on Carson's Honor, trained by Mac Robertson for Jer-Mar Stable in the Emerald, and on Strike Impact for Pat Dupuy in the Jewel. He also has a mount in the Lady Canterbury,
"Tammy was instrumental in us coming up here, gave us the opportunity to work her horse and ride it,'' Cuccurullo said. "Then when people heard we were coming, we picked up a couple more mounts,

Cuccurullo wanted to be at Canterbury for the Claiming Crown and Lady Canterbury, but he had another reason for the visit to Minnesota. "I want to see Scott,'' he said.
Stevens, of course, was badly hurt on July 2 in the worst spill in track history and will be recovering for some time from those injuries.

Cuccurullo was sleeping when his phone rang that night. It was Gary Stevens, Scott's brother, who had been watching the race on TV and saw the spill. He wanted to know who Cuccurullo knew at Canterbury.

Cuccurullo placed calls to Mike Biehler, Doug Schoep and Bernell Rhone, trying to gather information and passed on what he knew to Gary. It was the least he could do. After all, he's known the Stevens brothers for some time, and they had been instrumental in lining him up with Sellers.

Now, the former trainer/agent/farm manger will be part of the Claiming Crown for the fourth time. He made trips to Canterbury for the first three Claiming Crowns as a trainer, winning with Secret Squall and Luis Quinonez for Lothenback Stables in 2001.

So what's the record he could set on Saturday?

"Nobody else has ever won the Claiming Crown as a trainer and as an agent,'' he said.
DiMaggio sounds safe...real safe.

LIL DISH HAS LITTLE DISH UP
Lori Keith chuckled when told that her win aboard Lil Dish on July 4 drew a comment from the press box when they entered the winner's circle that afternoon.

"Which one's the little dish?'' a pressbox wag asked.

"That's funny,'' Keith said.

That was funny and today will be something else altogether for Keith, who will ride Lil Dish for trainer Doug Oliver in the $75,000 Glass Slipper, her first mount in a Claiming Crown race.
From funny to exciting.

"I'm very excited,'' she said. "This event is exciting. It brings in great riders, trainers shipping in, a great atmosphere in the grandstand. There's a big buzz. It's an exciting day. I like it.''
What Keith likes most is the opportunity given the small stables by the Claiming Crown to compete in races they otherwise wouldn't get a shot at, and, of course, the thrill that accompanies it.

"I think the day is more emotional,'' she said. "A lot of people expect the shipins to dominate, so when the smaller, local trainers _ the guys with 12 or 20 horses _ win, it is a lot more emotional.''

The chance to compete in a race of this kind means more to the smaller stables. "These big boys ship in and it's just another stakes race to them,'' she said.

Lil Dish is two-for-three at Canterbury this meet with a second in the race she didn't win. She has won two straight but is taking on the kind of company that has relegated her to an outsider's chance at 6-1 in the morning line.

Just the same, Keith agrees with Scott Stevens that local riders and trainers have an edge on this track because they aren't breaking their routines, they don't have to ship in, adjust and get used to their surroundings.

"Oh, absolutely,'' Keith said. "We'll all on our home ground. There's nothing really different other than we're running for more money. It's still horses in the gate, still six furlongs....''
Keith had an immediate thought when Oliver asked her if he should nominate Lil Dish. "I said 'why not.'

I do think she has a legitimate shot. It's horse racing. Anything can happen.''

Look no further than the 2004 Claiming Crown Iron Horse, won by longshot Superman Can with Stevens up for trainer George Bango and owner Dana Isaacson.

For handicappers who like to mix telling signs and coincidence with their PPs, consider this when wagering on the Glass Slipper:
Lori Keith rents a room from none other than Dana Isaacson.