Shakopee Breeder Named to Canterbury Park Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame selection committee announced the Class of 2012 Wednesday. The inductees, who will be honored in a Sept. 1 ceremony, include breeder Camelia Casby of Shakopee; owners Robert and Julie Petersen of Cokato, MN; outstanding contributor Sheila Williams of Roseville, MN; and multiple stakes winning mare Glitter Star.

These inductees join a group of more than forty individuals and horses that comprise the best of Minnesota racing.

Casby has bred and raced several stakes winning thoroughbreds and quarter horses. She operates both locally and nationally, racing and breeding in several states. Her Canterbury stakes wins include the Minnesota Distaff Classic, Northern Lights Debutante, Minnesota Derby twice, Minnesota Oaks, and the Minnesota Quarter Horse Futurity four times.

The Petersens have the most quarter horse wins and purse earnings in the history of Canterbury. They have won multiple stakes and campaigned the 2010 Canterbury Horse of the Year Seis It Fast and 2010 Quarter Horse of the Year Stone Cold Roller.

Williams, a longtime advocate of racing, served as media relations manager at Canterbury Park from 1994 to 2001, helping re-establish the sport in Minnesota after the track re-opened. In the Canterbury Downs’ years she reported for several weeklies, including the Shakopee Valley News, and was a public handicapper for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and later for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Glitter Star, owned by Bonnie Baskin of Edina, MN, won the Minnesota Distaff Classic Championship three consecutive times from 2005 to 2007, was a divisional champion twice, and earned more than $200,000.

The Canterbury Hall of Fame was founded in 1995 to recognize people and horses that have made important and lasting contributions to the racing industry within the state. The selection committee consists of representatives of local horsemen organizations, local media, and Canterbury Park.