Tag Archives: Assiniboia Downs history

Tom’s Triactor – Family, Horses and Golf

[caption id="attachment_13567" align="alignleft" width="1000"] Trainer Tom Dodds wins the 1994 Manitoba Derby with P. C.'s Bluff.[/caption] by Bob Gates After researching 50 years of newspaper articles and the like, you'd really think there would be a captivating headline regarding a Derby or an award-winning horse that would stand out over all others. No sir! Oh,…
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August 20, 1976 – A Dashingly Special Memory!

[caption id="attachment_13528" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Dashing Demon draws away! August 20, 1976.[/caption] by Bob Gates This year marks the 10th season that the history blog has been recalling racing memories. Back in 2012, I was asked to write a weekly historical blog that would run during the Downs live thoroughbred race meet. Fast forward to the…
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Karen Chysyk – The Powder Puff Queen with the Million Dollar Smile

[caption id="attachment_13474" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Karen Hendricks and Sir Double. March 17, 1981.[/caption] by Bob Gates Yet another fair lass from Saskatoon who called Assiniboia Downs home. Sound familiar? It should, as Karen Hendricks, nee Chysyk, started her journey with Joan Phipps, whose story was told here in August 2019. Karen grew up a stone's throw…
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The Great Cull of ’62

[caption id="attachment_13427" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Royal Ghost. Three wins as a 10-year-old at the Downs in 1960. Double-digit payoffs every time. Bobby Stewart up.[/caption] by Bob Gates "Cull - to remove an inferior animal from a herd." The definition sounds sad, doesn't it? However, following Assiniboia Downs' 1962 race meet that is exactly what took place…
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Live Racing a Go for Second Year in a Row at ASD with No Fans in the Stands

[caption id="attachment_13154" align="alignleft" width="1000"] Readying for Opening Day 2021 at ASD. George Williams photo.[/caption] by Bob Gates The 2021 season gets underway on Monday, May 24. This will be the second year of the pandemic "No Fans in the Stands" season of racing. Sure, it's not what everyone wants, but it beats the blazes out…
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Smoky Cinder, Pawluks’ Pride – A Tribute

[caption id="attachment_12620" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Smoky Cinder wins the 1997 Canadian Derby.[/caption] by Bob Gates The last time I saw Smoky… he was an image in my rearview mirror. In September 2019, I had gone to the Pawluk farm for what I expected would be my final visit with Smoky Cinder. I had travelled to Woodlands…
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Alberta Horsemen Contribute to Winnipeg Racing History

by Bob Gates Whittier Park, Polo Park and Assiniboia Downs owe a huge debt of gratitude to the horsemen who travelled near and far to race their four-legged athletes in Winnipeg. For the most part, these "out-of-towners" came from the central and mid-west United States, as well as from our neighboring provinces of Saskatchewan and…
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Stakes Honor Influential Builders at ASD

[caption id="attachment_12514" align="alignright" width="1000"] Buffy Twins & Hugh Jackson. 1981 Winnipeg Futurity.[/caption] by Bob Gates R. C. Anderson, Frank Arnason, Jack Hardy, Phil Kives, R. J. Speers, J. W. Sifton and Hazel Wright make up the collective of builders that are remembered through memorial stake races in 2020 at Assiniboia Downs. There have been others…
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An Old Man’s Memories of Yesteryear

[caption id="attachment_12481" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] The old man on the bench at ASD. Have you seen him?[/caption] by Bob Gates Perhaps you've seen him before, the short heavy-set old man sitting on a bench in front of the grandstand. Certainly not recently because of the "no fans in the stands" directive, but in previous years the…
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The Derby Trial Returns to Assiniboia Downs

[caption id="attachment_12105" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] Fire N Desire wins the St. James-Assiniboia Handicap. July 11, 1969.[/caption] by Bob Gates Following an 11-year absence (2009 -2019) the Downs 2020 stakes race calendar features the return of the Derby Trial. Jack Hardy resurrected the Manitoba Derby in 1960 and since that time 60 Derbies have been run at…
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