There is about a week left to sign up/re-join for the 2017 Canterbury Racing Club.  Members receive free admission for the season with their VIP card, a chance to be in the paddock before a race, be in the winners’ circle if we’re lucky enough to win, a place to gather on race days (when available), backside tours and special morning events in addition to a glimpse behind the curtain on what goes in to owning and racing a Thoroughbred.

The Club is a not-for-profit educational experience open to anyone.  The cost of membership is $250 with no other payments required.  The Club is designed to be interactive with questions and answers here on the blog as well as at the various events through the summer.

We will begin looking for horses a week or two after the Club closes.  We have a pair of trainers lined up for 2017, Clay Brinson and Nevada Litfin – provided there is enough capital for two horses – to increase the number of racing opportunities as well as to provide a wider experience with different barns.

A couple of folks have noted that for some, payday is Friday, March 3 while the official Club deadline is February 28th.  We will not turn you away for bein a few days late, please just let us know (jmaday@canterburypark.com or ted@grevelisracing.com) that it will be on its way.  However once we button up and start shopping for horses we will be closed to new members.

For easy reference below are the sign up and re-up forms.  Hope to see you this summer!

For returning members: 2017-horse_-ownership_club_membership_agreemenr-rollover

For new members: 2017-horse_-ownership_club_membership_agreement-w-email

Some of you may be aware of Jim Bastyr, a long time Clubber and Canterbury Park employee, but aside from being a passionate racing fan and a heckuva good guy he is the official unofficial Club historian/statistician.

Below are a couple of documents Jim created.  One is a PDF of the results charts for all the Club races this season.  The other is a color coded breakdown of every club season sine inception.  The latter is a fascinating document out lining all the starts and highlighting the “best” – highest payoff ($12.00), highest purse ($13,000) etc.  It also breaks down the stats at the various tracks we’ve run at over time.

Some observations on my part:

• Boy do we wager!  The $12 win was the largest payoff by far. The next highest was $7.20.  We certainly love to back our charges!
• The Club’s lifetime winning percentage of over 30% is incredible.  Keep in mind that that stat took a bit of a hit this season with only 1 win.  That kind of winning percentage is unheard of.  I hope we get back to that average this coming season!
• We crush at Hawthorne (60% winners as opposed to 21.2% at CBY – which is still pretty darn good!).  I think this is attributable to the time of year we run there.  We’re more aggressive in our placements there because we need to get the horse out of the stable before the end of the year so we’ll place the horse a level – maybe even two or three – below where we would normally run that type of horse.

All the credit goes to Clay Brinson, Tammy Domenosky and the other trainers, their staffs and the riders for making the winning possible and taking great care of the Club horses.

Enjoy the docs and look forward to working with you all this season!

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canterbury-rc-2016

We finally have it done!  The last vet bill came in yesterday and we finalized everything overnight and this morning and the results are attached.

For 2016 members the Club is returning $42.93 to each member.  That means to renew for 2017 you would fill out the attached form along with a check or credit card for $207.07.  Should you wish to not renew for 2017, please let either Jeff (jmaday@canterburypark.com) or I (ted@grevelisracing.com) know and you will receive a check in the mail.

Attached are both the rollover form and the final financial spreadsheet. Once again, while not the most financially lucrative year we have ever had but we certainly learned an awful lot and, hopefully, had some fun along the way!

I hope that we see many, if not all, of you this summer as we start another journey together. Please have your renewals in by February 28, 2017. THANK YOU!

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Jeff received the final vet bill in the office this afternoon.  I am finalizing the spreadsheet, doing the math and updating the rollover form so please keep an eye on the blog for the details and renewal form in the next day or two!