SHAKOPEE, MN—SEPTEMBER 1, 2018—Three-time stakes winner Dickey Bob will seek his fourth consecutive victory on Sunday in the 400-yard $55,200 Minnesota Quarter Horse Derby at Canterbury Park.

Trained by Jason Olmstead and ridden again by Denny Velazquez, Dickey Bob won the 2017 $51,000 Minnesota Quarter Horse Futurity at Canterbury Park on the same day that his full brother Pyc Jess Bite Mydust won the 2017 running of the Minnesota Quarter Horse Derby. The brothers are owned and by bred by Lunderborg, LLC.

Pyc Jess Bite Mydust was named the 2016 Canterbury Park Quarter Horse of the Meet and has returned to compete in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. In 2018, he and Dickey Bob faced off in two stakes races, with Dickey Bob getting the best of both matchups against his older brother. In each race, a troubled start left Pyc Jess Bite Mydust breaking last but running impressively to hit the board behind the winner.

Dickey Bob is by Apollitical Jess, out of the Pyc Paint Your Wagon mare Paint or More.

On Sunday, Dickey Bob (3-5) will be the heavy favorite in the absence of his brother but will face six other 3-year-old Minnesota-bred Quarter Horses. His stiffest competition may come the far outside and inside posts, with 5-1 Polar Xpress on the rail and 6-1 Eos Marie Leveau bookending the field on the outside.

Eos Marie Leveau is trained by Ed Hardy and will be ridden by the meet’s leading Thoroughbred rider, Ry Eikleberry. The High Rate of Return filly was fourth in last year’s Minnesota Quarter Horse Futurity and Minnesota Stallion Breeders’ Futurity. This will be her first time at 400 yards, though she is out of a Chicks Beduino mare and may be suited for the distance. She is bred and owned by Corey Wilmes.

Polar Xpress, also trained by Jason Olmstead, will be ridden by Quincy Hamilton. Hamilton is a successful Thoroughbred jockey at Canterbury and is also the son of John Hamilton, whose active Quarter Horse career includes over 1,900 wins and multiple stakes victories in Louisiana and Texas.

Polar Xpress was third in the 2017 Minnesota Quarter Horse Futurity behind Dickey Bob. The Freighttrain B filly is out of the Azoom mare Zoomshakalaka and is owned and bred by Summer Run, Inc.

Olmstead will saddle Lynnder 16 in the $3,000,000 All American Futurity (G1) on Labor Day at Ruidoso.

The $55,200 Minnesota Quarter Horse Derby is Race 1 on Sunday at Canterbury Park. Estimated post time is 12:45 pm CT.

The field, by post position, with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds:

1. Polar Xpress, Jason Olmstead, Quincy Hamilton, 5-1
2. Itinkican Itinkican, Jason Olmstead, Marcus Swiontek, 8-1
3. This Trains Rockin, Frank McKinley, Jake Samuels, 12-1
4. Streak N Sparks, Dale Haglund, Nik Goodwin, 10-1
5. Dickey Bob, Jason Olmstead, Denny Velazquez, 3-5
6. Calamady Jane, Jerry Livingston, Patrick Canchari, 15-1
7. Eos Marie Leveau, Ed Hardy, Ry Eikleberry, 6-1

The 2018 Canterbury Park Quarter Horse stakes schedule includes 16 stakes races worth over $660,000. Live racing continues through closing day, Saturday, September 15, 2018.