by Bob Gates I'm back following a week's hiatus due to one of the ugliest bouts of, well, why don't we just call it a bad case of colic and leave it at that. I'm still on the mend and am writing this from what was a week ago, my death-bed. This week I have a story...
by Bob Gates Montana's state motto is "Oro y Plata" (Spanish for gold and silver). The mountains of Montana have yielded fortunes in gold and silver since they were first discovered in the mid 1800s, but Big Sky Country's real riches are its people. This week's story...
by Bob Gates I've been writing this blog for going on six years and for the most part the stories have concentrated on local horsemen and their thoroughbreds. The Downs wouldn’t have survived all these years, however, if it were not for the "out-of-towners." For years...
by Bob Gates Mr. Macho and Northern Spike's two-year rivalry at Assiniboia Downs was a classic. Why just 1979 and 80? Well, after 1980 "Spike" raced at the Downs until May 1984. "Macho" move to Woodbine and Fort Erie in 1981 with "pit stops" at Santa Anita and...
by Bob Gates Winnipeg native, Harry Jeffrey was in a word "Special." He was fair, well-respected, and when called for, a no nonsense kind of guy. Jeffrey was also the first employee of Assiniboia Downs. When Jack Hardy started looking for someone to...
by Bob Gates Donald H. "Duke" Campbell's bio on the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame website says that his chief claim to fame was that he discovered and developed Sandy Hawley into a world class jockey. Well he did that alright, but there was so much more to the...
by Bob Gates Some and perhaps most of you will consider this week's blog story choice a little obscure. Others will look at the title and wonder, Rupert who? Rupert Parker was a jockey who plied his trade at Assiniboia Downs from the mid 1960s to the mid to late...
by Bob Gates What can I say? Those of you who know Clayton Gray will see the humour in the title of this week's blog story. Let's face it; you are more likely to see pigs fly than have a 15 minute conversation with the Dominion City native. Clayton's wife, Margaret...
by Bob Gates You hear glowing accolades about certain thoroughbreds all the time around the race track. You know, the usual and arguably over-used descriptors like "the peoples' horse", "champion" and the like. I do it here in my blog stories all the time, but the...
by Bob Gates Have you seen him? His slicked-back black-as-night hair high atop the 60-year-old Assiniboia Downs grandstand. For the last couple of months his signature morning screams have echoed throughout the grounds as the Downs prepares to kick off Season...