Blog

by Bob Gates The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is…

  by Bob Gates How do you pay tribute to the father/son duo of Jean-Louis and Pierre-Louis, who were important…

by Bob Gates Deep within the confines of the north end of the Assiniboia Downs grandstand on the lower level…

by Bob Gates In the late 1970s and ‘80s Assiniboia Downs developed quite the reputation for hosting concerts as part…

by Bob Gates Jim and Hazel Wright are the ultimate example of one of those husband/wife partnerships in our Assiniboia…

by Bob Gates Wasn’t that a Derby! A record-breaking $3,708,804 was wagered on Manitoba’s most prestigious race, making the historic…

by Bob Gates It has been more than 90 years in the making but on Monday August 7, the Manitoba…

by Bob Gates As you know, the history blog has a soft spot for the early days of racing in…

by Bob Gates In a little more than two weeks the Manitoba Jockey Club will present the historic 75th running…

  by Bob Gates Let’s take a short break from the usual fare you find on these pages and go…

by Bob Gates Lawrence “Mr. Amazing” Anonychuk trained thoroughbred racehorses at Assiniboia Downs for more than 30 years. If we…

by Bob Gates The place? Old Polo Park Racetrack, right here in River City. The date? Thursday, June 16, 1955.…

by Bob Gates Like a lot of others, jockey Dean W. Kutz got his start at country fairs and riding…

by Bob Gates The Ragens were a multi-generational horse racing family with its roots in Ireland. Edward Michael Ragen was…

by Bob Gates As the opening passage starts, “In the beginning…” One of the greatest horses in the history of…

by Bob Gates One of the many rewards of writing the history blog is meeting a lot of good people…

by Bob Gates Fred was a thoroughbred who only knew one racetrack, Assiniboia Downs. His first start came as a…

by Bob Gates Can you believe that come opening day, Monday May 22, 235 days will have passed since our…

by Bob Gates With only three days of "Live" left in 2022 Season, the 65th at ASD, we caught up…

by Bob Gates Most of us know Dr. Norm Elder as the one-time owner of Elder's Equine Clinic, or for…

  by Bob Gates Quiet and unassuming, that's Robert "call-me-Bob" Crockett. And this friends, makes his story challenging to tell.…

by Bob Gates Werre? There has to be some of you wondering who Ed Werre is and what's so special…

by Bob Gates Ron Turcotte was 14 when he left school to work as a lumberjack with his father.  He…

by Bob Gates There's a common thread that links books written to honour champions of the past and our humble…

by Bob Gates Does the title of our blog story this week have a familiar ring to it? Hope so.…

by Bob Gates Well another Manitoba Derby is on the books and congratulations go out to the winner Red Knobs…

by Bob Gates A few weeks ago we tried something different. The traditional blog story was replaced by an array…

by Bob Gates Who's kidding who, you're being short-changed this time around. Our weekly history blog isn't about a historical…

by Bob Gates Last winter, during a covid-induced research binge, the name Light Dust jumped off the pages of the…

by Bob Gates In a 1989 interview Darren Dunn told Paul Turney of the Daily Racing Form (DRF) that he…