Challenge


Lynnder 16 Now Three-Time Champion of the $30,000 Canterbury Park Distaff Challenge (G3)
Lynnder 16, under jockey Edwin Escobedo, winning her third-consecutive Q-Racing Video Canterbury Park Distaff Challenge (G3) at Canterbury Park Thursday night.

© Coady Photography
Lynnder 16 Now Three-Time Champion of the $30,000 Canterbury Park Distaff Challenge (G3)

SHAKOPEE, MN – JULY 14, 2022 – Lynnder 16 was all class on Thursday night as she defeated a full field of talented fillies and mares in the $30,000 Q-Racing Video Canterbury Park Distaff Challenge (G3).

It was the third consecutive win in the Distaff Challenge at Canterbury for Lynnder 16, and for the second year in a row, stablemate Apollitical Mogul was not far behind in second place. Edwin Escobedo was aboard for owners Tom Maher and Richard Tobin.

Jason Olmstead trains the duo and has won five of the last six editions of the race.

“These two mares are class. They haven’t made what they made by accident.”

The winning connections of Lynnder 16 accept the Q-Racing Video Canterbury Park Distaff Challenge Stakes trophy Thursday evening at Canterbury Park.© Coady Photography

“We entered both mares a couple times to try to get a race in them, but never could. So, I brought them up here and worked them together and we let them rip.”

“She and Hes Relentless are by far at the top,” Olmstead declared when asked where Lynnder 16 ranks among the horses he has trained.

Jason and his wife, Amber, will be inducted into the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame on Friday. Both share training duties now; when they started in Minnesota in 2005, Amber trained while Jason was riding.

“It’s special. We’ve raised two kids here, we’ve been training together since day one. To get recognized like this, here, it gives me goosebumps."

Lynnder 16 ($4.80) set a new track record for 400 yards as she finished the race in 19.560 and earned a 105 speed index.

The 6-year-old mare was one of five horses in the race sired by Apollitical Jess. She was bred in Oklahoma by Jim and Marilyn Helzer, out of the Corona Cartel mare Tinys Corona Queen.

The win also earned Lynnder 16 her third consecutive invite to the Grade 1 $100,000-est. Q-Racing Video Distaff Challenge Championship to be contested during the Bank of America Challenge Championships on October 22nd at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Lynnder is 16 for 32 lifetime and is four for four at Canterbury. She earned $13,800 from Thursday’s win and has amassed $792,988 in her career.

Apollitical Mogul, also a daughger of leading sire  Apollitical Jess, finished in second place with Luis Valenzuela up for owner Tom Maher. She has a habit of running close behind champion horses; as a 2-year-old in 2018, she was second to Danjer in a maiden special weight at Canterbury.

The graded stakes winner and multiple graded stakes placed mare was bred in Texas by Mercy Hinklins Horse Farm, LLC, out of Cash Cartel, by Corona Cartel.

Apollitical Mogul is 10 for 34 lifetime with $213,379 in earnings. Last fall, she won the Prairie Meadows Distaff Challenge Championship (G3) and competed in the Distaff Challenge Championship (G1) at Albuquerque.

As a 3-year-old in 2019, Apollitical Mogul won the Adequan Prairie Meadows Derby Challenge and competed in the Adequan Derby Challenge Championship (G3) in Albuquerque that fall.  

Fdd Princess completed the trifecta for trainer Shawna Manriquez and owner Tom Scheckel with Bonifacio Quiroz in the irons.

The 4-year-old FDD Dynasty filly made her first trip to Canterbury for the Distaff. Last year, she won the Adequan Prairie Meadows Derby Challenge and competed in the Adequan Derby Challenge Championship (G3) in Albuquerque.

Fdd Princess was bred in Texas by Jerry Windham, out of the Shazoom mare Viborita. She is three for 22 lifetime with $75,171 in earnings and is now graded stakes placed.

Completing the field were Apollitical J Julia, Chequer Out, Valiant Miss Priss, Apocalyptial Sis, Dugan Chapel Baby, Maudest Maven and Javelina Cantina.