We have officially closed out 2019! The Club started with a balance of $39,250 and 157 members. We managed to win a pair of races and came within a head bob of winning a third this year. We won at Canterbury and we won in Oklahoma at Remington Park. We managed to retire a mare to a forever home with a young woman who loves her completely. We finished the year with $22,918.35 in the bank. All in all, a nice 2019!
This brings us to some major changes coming to the 2020 season.
The Canterbury Racing Club was the first of its kind, beginning in 2009 and was copied in various iterations by other tracks around the country with great success. There is a reinvigorated effort this coming season to find and develop racehorse owners, which begat the Minnesota Racehorse Engagement Project (MREP) over the summer.
We are proud of what we have been able to do at Canterbury, showing many the joys of racehorse ownership and we appreciate that you have been along for the journey.
There are changes going forward that I want to make you aware of. The plan for 2020 is to keep your group intact but not accept any new members. If you want to rejoin the cost is $104.
The MREP is starting a new club or clubs but using a different model. They will have an initial fee of $199 with enrollment capped at 150 members; but none of the fee would come back to the group members. Instead the balance would go to a designated charity such as a horse retirement fund or an injured jockey fund. You certainly are welcome to explore that group as they will begin selling memberships online later this month.
However we would love to have you stay in this club for another season, operating the way we did in 2019. We will change the name (Original Canterbury Racing Club 2020?) but not the way things are done.
For those of you that will return for 2020, the contribution is only $104. Because we finished the year early enough, we have attached the form to re-up for 2020. Please let us know via email if you are NOT rejoining (jmaday@canterburypark.com OR ted@grevelisracing.com) before December 31, 2019. If you are reupping, just return the attached form with the $104 as you have in the past (if you have forgotten, there are instructions on the form). Checks should go out around mid- to late-January. One thing to keep in mind is that should you opt out and receive your funds, but change your mind, you will be have to be directed to the new Club.
We should be ready to go at the beginning of the Oaklawn meet and hopefully will have enough returnees to continue with two horses and Karl and Nevada as trainers. It should be a fun and dynamic 2020!
For more information on the new Club, please visit https://www.racehorseminnesota.com/ The new Club will be run separately from this Club and will be run by different management so you’ll have to direct your questions there.
Canterbury Racing Club 
I would like to re-join. I assume more info will be forthcoming about how to pay
Mark – just click on the link in the post for the re-sign up form. The various options are listed there along with the form to fill out. Thanks for being a part of the Club and coming back next year!
Is this the beginning to the end of the CRC?
Not necessarily. Just trying something a bit different and we’ll see how things go.