Race horses from across North America gathered Sunday for the 90th Canadian Derby, held for the first time at Century Mile Racetrack and Casino.
Twelve horses raced for the derby title Sunday evening, which comes with a purse of $250,000. That’s up from $200,000 at last year’s race.
Explode was crowned the winner of the derby, netting more than $97,000.
This is the first year the derby has been held at Century Mile, after more than 60 years at Northlands.
“I think the biggest challenge was just organizing a new event at a new facility, and hoping that we could capture experience for the people that were used to going to the derby at Northlands,” said Paul Ryneveld, managing director for Racing Entertainment Centres.
The new venue differs slightly from Northlands: there is fewer grand-standseating,as well asa mile-long track. The Northlands racetrack was 5/8 of a mile.
Approximately $1 million in wagers are expected to be placed Sunday night, which is considered the biggest event for the track.
With files from CTV Edmonton’s Joey Slattery
