Nothing unique to Canterbury. At any meet where people have to ship a long way to their next spot, every horse that can run will get entered if they aren't being held for a specific race at the next destination.
It's also why you see a few long priced winners in the last couple of weeks of a meet. One of the best betting angles I ever saw was playing any long priced horse that Tom Greer rode in the last two weeks at Ak-Sar-Ben. He was always good for several $60+ winners, and often had one pay over $100.
There is a term for it called "getting shipping money" ...
I only worked in the racing office at Canterbury for Doug Schoepf (1995-2000). He was great at writing to the horses on the backside, and we consistently had one of the higher field sizes in the country at the time. He was a great boss, and we had a great staff of officials. Did two tours at Canterbury, and it's still one of my favorite tracks.
