by Bob Gates On May 16, 1969, 19-year-old, Barbara Jo Rubin became the first female jockey to win a race at Assiniboia Downs. It's hard to believe, but a half century has passed since Barbara Jo's record-setting performance. Miss Rubin was a young jockey struggling to...
by Bob Gates The crazy Kentucky Derby is in the books for another year, so you know live racing at Assiniboia Downs can't be far off. Season #62 at the Downs breaks out of the starting gate at 1:15 p.m. on Mothers' Day, Sunday, May 12, and it should be a banner year!...
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...
Here comes a big milestone at Assiniboia Downs: Season 60 of live racing! Which means the Downs will pull out all stops to make it special. One of those things will be a 60-second Betting Spree every live race day -- which will be lots of fun. But first things first!...
by Bob Gates Much has been written about the president and founder of K-tel International since his unexpected death on April 27, 2016. Today we leave the world of the Miracle Brush, Veg-O-Matic, Teflon Fry Pan, Patty Stacker and records like "Hooked on Classics" and...
Jockey Chris Husbands won four of the eight races on Mothers' Day opening night 2016 at Assiniboia Downs; trainer Tom Gardipy Jr. scored a hat trick, and trainer Gary Danelson bookended the card with wins in the first (Don Gray Memorial) and eighth races in front of a...
by Bob Gates The 2016 live racing season kicks off on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8, as has become our custom at Assiniboia Downs, and have I got a story for you. It goes like this: An old Cherokee told his grandson, "My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside...
Bidding has now started! The next round of fundraising for paralyzed jockey Alyssa Selman has started with an auction of historic racing memorabilia on eBay. A full description of each package is available on the eBay site and also below. All of the items listed on...
by George Paralyzed Canadian jockey Alyssa Selman was told by doctors this week that she has only a five percent chance of ever walking again, but she bubbled with talk of a dream house and horses on Thursday night in the Rehabilitation Ward at Winnipeg's Health...
by George Jockey Dane Nelson won four races including the Hazel Wright Sire Stakes on Saturday night, overshadowing a hat trick by former leading rider Rohan Singh, and trainer Jim Compton lost both horses he ran in claiming races. They both won. Nelson started...