Update: A Day at the Canterbury Races – With Camels?

’s sixth annual Extreme Race Day — featuring camel and ostrich racing and presented by the Minnesota State Lottery — will be Saturday, July 21.

Extreme Race Day will include creative horse races with unusual matchups and distances, but the stars of the day will be camels and ostriches. Near capacity crowds have turned out in past years to watch these entertaining animals travel an unpredictable route as they stop and start toward the finish lines in their races.

 was contemplating racing a camel Thursday morning and asked the Twitter community, "Is it a good idea for the Mayor of Shakopee to ride in a camel race?" 

Several followers encouraged him to participate:

Christopher Finke ‏@cfinke wrote, "@MayorTabke It's a bad idea for the Mayor of Shakopee to not ride in a camel race."

On Thursday night, Tabke told Patch, "I'm doing it...who knew being Mayor would lead to riding camels?!"

At the event, a display area will allow people to view the ostriches and camels prior to the races. “Clyde Camel,” “Daffy Ostrich,” “Oasis Joe,”  “Tweety Bird” and their other racing friends will be ready to greet fans before the dirt flies on the track.

Joe Hedrick’s camels and ostriches come from Nickerson, Kansas.  He has been raising and showing exotic animals since the 1970s.             

Gates open at noon with the first horse race at 1:30 p.m.

Admission on July 21 is free for anyone 17 and under, $5 for 18 and older and $3 with a Canterbury MVP Card.

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