by Bob Gates This week we put the finishing touches on Season #59 at Assiniboia Downs with a weekend featuring five stake races. The Winnipeg Futurity and Matron kick things off on Friday. Saturday night sees the Sifton and Gold Cup, and the season wraps up with the...
by Bob Gates The August 1, 2016 Manitoba Derby will be one I never forget, and forever remember, as bittersweet. The inclement weather created a dream track if you were a mudder, but it was a less than ideal day for the Manitoba Jockey Club, which was hoping to draw a...
by Bob Gates To coin a phrase from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, "Let's put the case." The case, that is, of Just Cost, a thoroughbred runner from the dirty thirties. Today you are not only readers; you are also the jurists in the case of The People vs...
by Bob Gates Who knew? This year's running of the R. J. Speers on August 17 marks the 50th anniversary of Gary Danelson and Cosmic Tip's win in the Speers in 1966. There may be a few veterans that recall the name Cosmic Tip, but even they probably aren't familiar...
by Bob Gates Mike Rowland rode at Assiniboia Downs from 1981 to 1984, chalking up 455 wins. While his time here was limited to four years, the young man from Saratoga Springs, New York left his footprints on the heart of Assiniboia Downs. Mike's career spanned 26...
by Bob Gates Another Manitoba Derby is in the books and congratulations go out to winner Inside Straight and his connections! What a fine looking beast he is! And that got me to thinking about "lookers" from days gone by. Talk about walking into a mine field! With...
by Bob Gates All of you who remember or who have ever heard of a horse named "Bimbo" please raise your hands. I don't see many arms in the air. That's not unexpected. Until I found an old obscure newspaper article from the now defunct Winnipeg Tribune I didn't know...
by Bob Gates Assiniboia Downs under quarantine? No! But these days Downs' patrons are suffering from Super Hi 5 fever as the carryover is now in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. That makes it a perfect time to take a look at Downs' record payoffs from...
by Bob Gates Every once in while a mare comes along who distinguishes herself from all others. Multiple stakes winner Astral Moon was just such a mare, but her career was slow in getting started. Owned and trained by Bill Grohn of Weyburn Saskatchewan, Astral Moon was...
by Bob Gates Remember Michael Magee? Michael was a man of many talents: actor, writer, narrator, producer, director, freelance broadcaster and CBC Sports' horse racing analyst/commentator from 1964 to 1986. Frankly, nobody did it better. I hadn't thought about Michael...