Stitched won the $150,000 Mystic Lake Derby Wednesday night at Canterbury Park with jockey Florent Geroux aboard. The 3-year-old is trained by Gregory Foley and is owned by Nathan McCauley, Michael W. Olszewski and William J. Minton. Stitched pressed the pace throughout the one-mile turf race before taking the lead in mid-stretch. As the betting favorite, he paid $6.20. The final time was 1:34.76. The Mystic Lake Derby, the richest race of the Canterbury season, was one of six stakes carded as part of the Mystic Lake Northern Stars Turf Festival. The single-day handle record was broken when $4,737,428 was wagered on the 10-race card. The previous high was $3,795,180, set last year on the Northern Stars Festival races.
“I thought [Geroux] rode the perfect race sitting behind the pace,” Foley said. “I always thought he could rate but his previous races did not shape up that way.”
Minnesota-bred Bens Malice, trained by David Van Winkle and ridden by Alonso Quinonez, finished second. Heaven Street, with Javier Castellano aboard was third.
Castellano won the $100,000 Curtis Sampson Oaks earlier on the card aboard Schlofmitz. The 3-year-old filly is owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, LLC and Michael J. Caruso and is trained by Michael Maker. The Oaks was conducted at one mile on the turf.
Spycraft won the $100,000 Dark Star Turf Sprint under Adam Beschizza. Owned by Dugan-McNichol Racing, LLC (Brian Dugan), Spycraft is trained by Joe Sharp. He paid $10.40 to win and covered five furlongs on the turf in 55 seconds.
Harry Hernandez, who won the first race with Jetinwithclass, won his second race of the night with 3-year-old Royals’ Lil Diva in the $60,000 MTA Stallion Auction Stakes. The filly is trained by Miguel Angel Silva and owned by Thumbs Up Racing, LLC (David Cobb).
She Can’t Sing won the $100,000 Lady Canterbury Stakes with jockey Jareth Loveberry. Trained by Chris Block, the 5-year-old mare is owned by Lothenbach Stables, Inc. (Bob Lothenbach).
She Can’t Sing tracked pace setters Medalla Match and Beach Flower “She was confident all the way around,” Loveberry said. “I was very comfortable on the backside.” She Can’t Sing took the lead at the top of the stretch and went on to win by a length in 1:33.82. She returned $5.80.
Mr Dumas won the Mystic Lake Mile with Reylu Gutierrez. The 6-year-old horse is owned by WSS Racing, LLC (William S. Simon) & Hooties Racing, LLC (Mark Brian Moore) and is trained by John Ortiz.
(info and photo courtesy of Canterbury Park)