by Track Historian Bob Gates Most local racing buffs already know that veteran horseman Gary Danelson is the current Downs All-Time Leading Trainer (ATLT). Coming into the 2024 season Gary had notched 1,250 wins here. It’s a challenge to tell the history behind the...
By Track Historian Bob Gates Have you ever wondered what inspires these stories from our racing’s past, a song, a smell, or perhaps even a line from a movie? This time around it’s a quote from the CBS television series NCIS. “We all die twice. Once when our bodies...
by Bob Gates There's a common thread that links books written to honour champions of the past and our humble blog stories. Both remember special equines from the early days of the Winnipeg racing scene who have long since passed. Not this time around! This multiple...
by Bob Gates "And Now for Something Completely Different" was a catchphrase from the British television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus, and it just happens to be perfect for this week's blog. This isn't your typical history story, at least it's not what...
by Bob Gates Well, now that we have a couple of days of racing under our belt, let's celebrate with some M&M's. Nope, not the multi-coloured, button-shaped chocolates which are the flagship product of Mars, Incorporated. We're talking about milestones and memories...
by Bob Gates For as long as most of us can remember, the first Saturday in May is reserved for the Kentucky Derby, but not this year. The "Run for the Roses" was rescheduled to the fall because of COVID-19. You just knew NBC wasn't going to let an opportunity like...
by Bob Gates Sunday, May 26 was a typical afternoon on the backside at Assiniboia Downs, after all, horses don’t do weekends. But this Sunday, Death came calling, and when he left the Sayler family was stricken with grief. Ardell Sayler had been taken. Ardell's many...
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 This week we remember two promising young apprentices who got their start at Assiniboia Downs in the 1960s, Bobbie Dimma and Vernon Sayler. Most of us are familiar with "Bobbie". Yes, that's how his name appeared on his birth certificate, Bobbie not Robert,...
by George Balooga Bull brought his "A" game for the Wheat City Stakes, Jet Again did the same in the Harry Jeffrey Stakes, and Paul Nolan won half of the eight races in front of a large appreciative crowd on Wednesday night at the Downs. Balooga Bull had lost two in a...