Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Luis Alberto Canchari Nuñez was born on August 20, 1956, in Lima, Peru. His parents were Esteban Canchari-Yauri and Felícita Nuñez Gamboa de Canchari.

“He was kind of like a jack of all trades,” Alex said of his father, Luis. “He’s been everything from an agent to a trainer, and he was a jockey. He could do everything with horses; that’s what I always admired about him.”

Luis grew up in Lima, attending races at the Monterrico Oval and, when he was old enough, grooming and galloping horses there. In fact, Luis was the groom/exercise rider for the legendary Peruvian horse Santorín, the first ever winner of the country’s Quadruple Crown. Santorín was a Peruvian thoroughbred racehorse who was the first to win the Peruvian Quadruple Crown and is known as “Salvador de la Hípica Peruana.” Santorín is regarded as the most important racehorse in Peruvian history and has a monument and race named after him at the Hipódromo de Monterrico, a Thoroughbred horse racing facility opened in Lima.

“I still have that picture of my dad walking the horse into the winner’s circle,” Alex said, pride evident in his voice. “The grooms would gallop horses without saddles there. He was amazing.”

Luis moved to the United States in the mid-1980s, working and riding races in Florida for a few years. However, it was a trip to Minnesota’s Canterbury Park that altered the man’s life forever. That is when Luis Alberto Canchari Nuñez met Ann Nordgren.

“My mom was on the rail watching the horses, but when he passed her, she had her head down, and he thought she was crying,” Alex said. “He asked her if she was okay, and that’s how they met.”

Luis married Ann Marie Nordgren in St. Paul, Minnesota on August 17, 1990. Ann was born on September 18, 1969 in Chicago, and died on July 9, 2003, in Shakopee. Her parents were Ronald Joseph Nordgren (1932-2002) and Patricia Bernadette Hantsch Nordgren (1935-1997).

Luis and Ann settled down and raised four children in Minnesota: Ashley Ann (1990), Patrick Alexander (1991), Alexander Luis (1994), and Steven Canchari (2000).

And every summer, the family worked with the horses at Canterbury Park in Shakopee. Luis remembered that the racetrack and his family was a major part of his life. Alex spent endless hours at the track with his father and his brothers, learning horses from the ground up. His father wasn’t the kind of man who taught by way of instruction; no, Luis’s children learned by doing.

Luis had loved, owned and trained horses at Canterbury Park in Shakopee for 32 years. His two sons, Patrick and Alex, practically grew up there and became successful jockeys.

Luis lived only two blocks away from Canterbury. His reputation took a hit in 2014 when his horse, Smart Masterpiece, finished second and Canchari was approached by the steward. “He said ‘your horse got a bad test,’ I said ‘bad test,’ he said, ‘methamphetamine,’ ‘I don’t even know what it is, methamphetamine,’” he recalled. It was the same methamphetamine that’s a common street drug, also known as speed. Smart Masterpiece was disqualified. Canchari was fined $2,000 and suspended for ninety days.

Then, three years later, in 2017 another Canchari horse, Carson’s Storm, tested positive for methamphetamine. This time, the Minnesota Racing Commission dropped the hammer: a $25,000 fine and a three-year suspension. The penalty, which was upheld by an administrative judge, was later reduced to $10,000 and one year.

Investigators believe their horses were contaminated by methamphetamine users working behind the scenes at Canterbury.

Canchari said after the second positive result, all his employees took drug tests and passed. Canchari even took a voluntary polygraph. He believes his horses could have been contaminated by the starting gate crew. It’s the one part of the race a trainer has no control over.

A month after Canchari’s first horse tested positive, Shakopee police arrested two members of the starting gate crew, both of whom were in possession of methamphetamine. In a dorm room behind the track, police found a gram of methamphetamine, a pipe used to smoke it, a scale, and a bottle containing urine to falsify a drug test. At least five other horse handlers at Canterbury were busted for drugs during this period, according to Fox 9 Investigator Tom Lyden in a November 25, 2019 report, “Speed: Canterbury Park race horses exposed to methamphetamine.”

At 62, Luis was broke and had to sell his nine horses. But he couldn’t imagine returning to Canterbury Park until he got his reputation back. “I refuse to go. When I go, I want to run with my horses. I’ll be happy man, and my life will come back again.”

In late fall of 2020, an unknown respiratory illness sent the family patriarch, Luis Alberto Canchari Nuñez, to the hospital. It wasn’t COVID, but doctors were unable to diagnose him and Luis succumbed on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. He was 64 years old.

Luis spent his life chasing his dream and doing what he loved most: horse racing. “Louie the Glove” made countless friends along the way. His devotion to his native country Peru was ever-present. He adored his wife Ann and was the proudest father and grandpa. Luis led an honest, admirable life – always defending the “little guy.” We will forever miss his comical personality and unrelenting spirit.

Bibliography

Lyden, Tom. “Speed: Canterbury Park race horses exposed to methamphetamine .” Fox 9, 25 Nov. 2019.