by Bob Gates Let’s take a short break from the usual fare you find on these pages and go with one of our photo blogs, shall we? This year’s 75th Running of the Manitoba Derby features $125,000 in purse money with an additional $100,000 bonus should a horse win...
by Bob Gates Ron Turcotte was 14 when he left school to work as a lumberjack with his father. He saw his career go from cutting lumber in the bush to construction work and eventually he found his way to E. P. Taylor's Windfields Farm in 1960. In those early years his...
by Bob Gates The Manitoba Centennial Derby celebrates its golden anniversary (1970-2020) this year. Go figure. It doesn’t seem like it, but 50 years have passed since the historic Centennial Derby was run at Assiniboia Downs as "The Queen of all Britons" and her...
by Bob Gates Manitoba was celebrating its centenary in 1970 and the owner of Assiniboia Downs, Jack Hardy, wasn't about to let the occasion pass without taking full advantage. The 22nd running of the Manitoba Derby was the marquee event of the Assiniboia Downs racing...
by Bob Let’s take a time out from our usual activities this week and remember James C. Hardy, the founder of Assiniboia Downs. The year was 1957, R. James Speers had been dead for two years, Polo Park race track had closed its doors in July 1956, and the demise of...