By Lonnie Herman

Catching Up With Bernell Rhone and Dean Butler

The team of trainer Bernell Rhone and his son-in-law jockey Dean Butler is enjoying a successful meet at Canterbury Downs in Shakopee, Minnesota.

Rhone, who has been a fixture at Canturbury since the track opened in 1985 and a member of the Canterbury Hall of Fame, is currently tied atop the trainer standings with McLean Robertson, each with 23 wins.

“Mac is a nice enough guy,” Rhone smiled, “but he won the title last year and it would be a feather in my cap to unseat him.”

With less than 23 racing days remaining for the Canterbury meet, the battle is expected to go down to the wire.

When the Canterbury meet wraps on August 29th, Rhone will race at long-time stomping grounds Remington Park in Oklahoma City before heading to what he now considers his home, Tampa Bay Downs.

“I love the Tampa Bay area,” Rhone, who makes his home in nearby Oldsmar, explained. “And the turf course is terrific, which is important since most of my runners are turf horses.”

Dean Butler meanwhile, married to Rhone’s daughter LeAnn, is closing in on his second consecutive Canterbury Downs riding title. His current 42 victories are good enough to lead his closest competition by five wins.

Last season at Tampa Bay Downs, Butler hit the board with 32 % of his mounts.

Final Furlong:

Rosemary Homeister, Jr. rode two winners the final day of the Colonial meet, including a victory in the final race of the meet to grab her second consecutive riding title at that venue. Until Tampa Bay Downs re-opens in early December, Homeister will be based at Delaware, but will also take mounts at Laurel Park and Penn National. It’s an exhausting schedule, but as her agent Marcus Guidry explained, Homeister thrives on the action.

“She wants to win everyday,” Guidry said, “and that’s what we’re trying to do.”…Daniel Centeno continues to show the way among the Presque Isle jockey colony with 51 victories.