by Bob This Saturday’s feature race is the 25th running of the Frank Arnason Sire Stakes. The race is for Manitoba bred 3-year-olds over a distance of 6 furlongs for a purse of $25,000. The winner of the inaugural running of the Frank Arnason in 1988 was Hazel...
by Bob This Sunday’s running of the Free Press Stakes will be the 52nd edition of the race. The Winnipeg Free Press trophy has a long and storied association with the Downs, beginning with Fremarcton winning the inaugural running of the race in 1960. From 1960 to 1981...
by Bob This week’s featured stakes race is the 36th running of the $30,000 Golden Boy, which pits the undefeated Balooga Bull against four rival 3-year-olds going six furlongs. Should Balooga Bull win the Golden Boy, which goes as the third race on Friday, he would...
by Bob Assiniboia Downs kicks off its stakes schedule this weekend with the 5th running of the Hazel Wright Sire Stakes for Manitoba-bred 3-year-old fillies on Saturday, June 2. At this point there isn’t a lot of “history” to the race itself. The winner of the...
by Bob Polo Park, the “father” in our family tree analogy, was a 6 furlong oval that opened on June 12, 1925. R. James Speers was given credit for building Polo Park, but he was not the driving force behind the idea to build the west-end track. Rather, he came to...
by Bob If horse racing were going to flourish in Winnipeg it was clear that River Park would not be the answer. A new track had to be built. The idea for Whittier Park was hatched in 1923 by R. James Speers, construction began the same year, and the new track was...
by Bob In family tree terms, the “father” of Assiniboia Downs was Polo Park race track. The “grandfather” in this imaginary ancestry, with apologies for the lack of female references, was Whittier Park. The “great-grandfather” and we will go back no further, was River...
by Bob Fond Memories of Opening Day at Assiniboia Downs Sunday May 6, 2012 will be the 55th opening day in the illustrious history of Assiniboia Downs. To mark the event, let’s take a trip back in time and see what kind of memories we can find in the Downs’ memory...