Best Bet, Longshot, for opening day at the Downs, horse-by-horse analysis of the 139th Kentucky Derby by Rob It’s opening day at Assiniboia Downs on Sunday, May 5 and what better way to precede it than with a Kentucky Derby the day before that features a horse...
Assiniboia Downs picks
Labour Day long weekend looks favorable for longshots at ASD
by Rob Last weekend was filled with short-priced favourites, stakes races and impressive performances. Balooga Bull romped home in an allowance race, Red Rebellion won a Maiden Special Weight race and the five stakes races were won mostly by the Sayler family (Da...
Slew of stakes at ASD this weekend feature the best horses on the grounds, Balooga Bull and betting opportunities
by Rob There are five stakes races this weekend at ASD featuring the best horses on the grounds, including Manitoba Derby winner Balooga Bull, who will face seven rivals in a prep for the Gold Cup on Saturday. The Distaff, Debutante, Osiris Plate, C.T.H.S Sales Stakes...
Don’t forget class in your handicapping
by Rob Modern handicapping is so heavily focused on speed, how fast a horse ran and numbers, that people often forget about another important basic form of handicapping. Class handicapping puts heavy emphasis on what level a horse runs at and what kind of company it...
Handicapping Manitoba Lotteries Derby Weekend 2012
by Rob Monday, August 6, is Manitoba Lotteries Derby Day. It’s our biggest day of live racing and it’s shaping up to be incredibly exciting! The four stakes races carded for Derby Day should all have large competitive fields with no clear cut favorites – which means...
Handicapping the Visual: Going Beyond the Past Performances
by Rob When beginners come out to the races one of the first things they do is go down to the paddock, pick out the prettiest horse in the race and bet them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but is there validity to a method of handicapping that centers...
Trip Handicapping, The Way, The Truth and the Light Version 2.0 of Course
by Rob In the ‘70s a thought process came about that revolutionized handicapping. A long-haired Harvard dropout developed a set of numerical ratings to evaluate horses that ran on different days at different distances on different tracks around the country. That man...
Nearing the Midway Point in the Season at ASD, A Look Forward and a Look Back
by Rob The live racing season is almost at the halfway point! Time flies when you’re having fun. Leading trainers so far are Blair Miller, Ardell Sayler and Chad Torevell. Leading riders are Paul Nolan, Rohan Singh and Tyrone Nelson. Leading owners are K 5 Stables,...
Pair of Carryovers Start Canada Day Weekend Off Right!
by Rob I’m really not sure how Orville Got Even got up to win the seventh race on Wednesday night, but it was one of the happiest times I’ve had throwing away tickets. The Pick-4 carryover of $3,488 dollars makes Friday’s card that much more exciting. Not to be...
Friday Pick-5 Looks Playable – And Winnable
by Rob Bob’s weekly piece featured the $25,000 Frank Arnason Sire Stakes and the history of that race. I will leave the history to him and concentrate instead on this year’s rendition of the race for 3-year-old Manitoba-breds, which goes as the seventh race on...