by Bob Gates More than 40 years ago, the late Philip Kives built his K5 racing empire on the back of Island Fling. Phil couldn't recall how he met up with Don Gray, but Gray was the man he approached about buying a horse and getting into the racing biz. According to...
by George Balooga Bull became the first horse in the history of Assiniboia Downs to win three straight Gold Cups on Saturday night and he did it the hard way, forcing a suicidal pace before powering away to win the 57th running of Manitoba's most prestigious race for...
by Bob No one has ridden more winners at Assiniboia Downs than the man they call "Hank". Ken Hendricks sits atop the Downs' leader board with 1,666 trips to the Winner's Circle. A quick scan of those who follow shows that only two of the top 20 riders are still active...
by Bob "He was a real gentleman." That's how people who knew the man that trained horses and ran Jack Hardy's JY Farm in St. Adolphe for the better part of 20 years, described George Victor Howell. The Howell family hailed from Saskatchewan, but made their home in...
by Bob On August 5, 1967 the stars above Assiniboia Downs aligned perfectly for rider Robert Roy "Bobby" Stewart and his chestnut charge Pool to Market, and the pair put on a fabulous show for the 5,000-plus patrons that filed into the track that evening. The closest...
by Bob The success that owner Larry Carter enjoyed with Elite Mercedes was unprecedented, but two short years later he further established himself as a dominant and influential force in the Downs' stakes schedule with Monsoon "The Machine" Rain. While the Downs has...
by George Paul Brandt’s Balooga Bull silenced all naysayers with his second consecutive victory in the $50,000 Assiniboia Downs Gold Cup on Saturday night, becoming only the sixth horse in 56 years to win the prestigious race in back-to-back years. Trained by...
by George Off 2 Win Stable’s Divine Wisdom probably had to work a little harder than he would have liked to win the $50,000 J.W. Sifton Stakes on Friday night, but he was up to the task when it counted. Ridden by leading rider Paul Nolan, the Manitoba-bred...
by Bob Uene was one of those special horses that left his hoofprints on the heart of Assiniboia Downs even though he only raced at our local oval for two short seasons. How does something like that happen? First of all, he came to the Downs with plenty of...
by Rob The second last weekend of live racing will highlight four of the final five stakes races of the year. These four races will determine divisional honors and will stamp some of our equine athletes as horses for the ages. These $50,000 races are the Matron, the...