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What was
playing on the radio 50 years ago--the year Assiniboia Downs was "born"?
Stood Up |
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1958 Corvette |
Need an antidote
to the winter blahs? Here it is: the
Sunshine Millions races Saturday afternoon--the most important day of
racing since the Breeders' Cup championships last fall. Beneath the idyllic palm trees of Florida and California, the finest-bred horses in those two states will go
head-to-head for millions of dollars in purse
money and for bragging
rights--four races from Gulfstream, four from Santa Anita. Which state has the speedier
sprinter, the superior turf horse, the more talented mare, the more
promising 3-year-old? Is the eventual Kentucky Derby winner
among them? Come out to the
Clubhouse Saturday and see--in an atmosphere steeped with additional
excitement:
1. Predict winners of the eight Sunshine Millions races and win up to $500. Here are two gimmes: Breeders' Cup winner Ginger Punch
in the $500,000 Distaff and Nashoba's Key in the $500,000 Filly
and Mare Turf.
2. This is your first opportunity to get your Tour d' Champs contest card stamped to win a
trip to the Breeders' Cup in the fall!
3. Truly classy merchandise from the tracks will be given away in afternoon draws
4. This is the first Saturday for the most thrilling hour of racing in the world: the Magna
Pick-5 featuring five races from three tracks in 60 minutes with a
guaranteed pick-5 pool of $500,000.
Now wouldn't a slice of that pool cure the winter blues! The program is free.
5. Up goes the volume in the Race Book on all eight Sunshine Millions races, just
like Breeders' Cup day. The
rivalry between those two proud breeding states, Florida and California, will be intense!
6. Death by Golden Gate continues. No, no one's jumping
from Golden
Gate Bridge. It's a contest where
sudden-death prevails: you
predict winners at Golden Gate Fields.
Last person standing gets $100 in betting vouchers. Be sure to ask for a free entry form.
7. Complete your tropical escape by taking a breather next to the trickling waterfall in the
Clubhouse. Order your favourite
summer cooler!
Bye-bye, blahs!
GOOD LUCK IN LAS VEGAS!
Best Assiniboia players take on 700 others for $1 million
No pressure. Just $1 million in prize money at
stake. About $360,000 to the
winner. That's what four of the
best horseplayers at the Downs are looking at as they compete today thru Saturday
against about 700 others in the Coast Casinos Horseplayer World Series
at the Orleans Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. At least
these players have a bit of history on their side: About 27 years ago, a horseplayer
from the Downs won the biggest tournament of the year--at that time at
Penn National race track--and pocketed $100,000. Not many cities in North America can lay claim to that achievement.
Each player
qualified for this big event by winning a monthly horseplaying
tournament during live racing last summer. They are:
• Tannis
Lopuck--a former goalkeeper for the University of Manitoba Bisons female
ice-hockey team and now a market analyst for Manitoba
Hydro.
• Kathleen
Buckoski--a school
teacher and part of a local horse-owning family: her husband, Grant, also
a school teacher, is a partner in Hardball Stables.
• John
Bitchok--former school
teacher from Ile des Chenes, Man.
• Dan
Black, owner of Black's Vintage Books and Antiques
(There was a fifth winner but business commitments prevents him from going.) Go get 'em, players! Bring back the loot!
I'M TOUGH
Seven win my $20 birthday quiz in last column
Rules are rules,
guys. If you answered the
birthday quiz in the last column correctly and weren't awarded $20 in bets, it was
either because you (a) submitted more than one entry b)
you said you couldn't make it to the track on the weekend. Putting the money into your betting
account just wasn't in the rules.
Sorry about that. Having
said that, quite a few of you missed the answer in the fifth question
which asked for the name of the second-last state to common-pool with Canada. The correct
answer was (a) New Jersey. You may
recall that New
Jersey
began common-pooling in time for the Breeders' Cup at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Florida was the LAST state to complete common-pooling with Canada.
The other
correct answers were: 1. (c) Filly's name was Seattle Up. 2. (c) the Melbourne Cup is
"the race that stops a
nation." 3. (c) The sad comment was made
about Barbaro who had to be put down 4.
(d) Robbie Atras
won last spring's Triple Crown Challenge. The seven $20 prize winners were: Tanis T., Murray C., Gordon B., Ken P., Glen S., Jeff R.,
Glen M. Congrats, y' all!
OTHER CONTEST WINNERS
Busy weekend; show parlay carryover
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Allan GrayTerry PageeMyrna DramJames McMullen
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$1,000
POKER FRIDAY: The weekly
Friday poker matches began in the Clubhouse last Friday with R. J.
Subedar being able to do no
wrong, wiping out the other nine players in short order with repeatedly
great cards. He picked up $100
in betting vouchers and he and the second-place finisher, Steve
Szego, will be finalists for $1,000 cash Friday, March 28. Come out Friday and play! Here's how.
SHOW PARLAY CARRYOVER: Since not
one single entrant picked three show horses in a row at Sam Houston
last Friday, the $25 is added to tomorrow's $25, making a $50 pickup
for the winner. Play races three to five at Sam.
First post: 7 p.m.
HORSEPLAYER
TOURNEY SATURDAY: Winners pictured above. Top prize of $500 went to James
McMullen who increased his $48 bankroll to $152.90. Second: Myrna Dram with
$139.80. Third: Terry Pagee $118.40. Next tournament: Saturday, Feb. 16, on the first-ever long weekend of February.
DEATH
BY GOLDEN GATE: Tanis
Atras picked up $100 in betting vouchers, making quick work of 27
others by being the only person to correctly predict the outcome of the
third race at Golden Gate.
"BEAT STRETCH"
Seven did, giving them $5 and gloating rights forever
Blogger Glen
"Stretch" Sirkis found his match Saturday afternoon. He put his reputation on the line by
challenging people at the morning horseplayer seminar to beat his top
selection that afternoon--and seven of the them did. Stretch had picked a horse in the
sixth race at Gulfstream and it ended up finishing a dismal fifth. As a result, Stretch says he's going
to retire to a monastery in Tibet and take an oath of silence. Or wait for his favourite track, Hawthorne, to start its spring meet before handing out any
more best bets. These seven beat
him and received a $5 betting voucher which reportedly some will frame
and hang on the wall as a testament to "beating Stretch:" Donn J., Tammy D., Ken P., Randy P.,
Rob A., Bruce G., Tanis A.
"MY MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT"
Horse hurt ankle just days before
the biggest race of his life
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Proud
moment:
Gray with Merry's Jay in
1976
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Seven-time leading trainer
at the Downs, Clayton
Gray, had no hesitation singling out his most memorable
moment: "Winning the Manitoba Derby with Merry's Jay." The 10-length victory in 1976 was
the first-ever Derby victory by a registered Manitoba-bred--and he did
it against impressively-bred sons of Northern Dancer who shipped in for the
race. But what made the win even more memorable, recalls Gray, is that
the horse came back "very lame" after a previous stake race,
the Harry Jeffrey, and spent the two days before the Derby standing
in barrels of ice after hurting an ankle on the day of the Derby
draw. Some horse. Some trainer.
QUICK BITS: Horse of the year: No surprise: 249 of 266 voters, mainly racing
writers, chose Breeders' Cup Classic winner Curlin as 2007 horse
of the year at the annual Eclipse Awards in Los Angeles. Curlin soared from unknown maiden to the
best-of-the-best in less than nine months. Top jock: the red hot Garrett Gomez; top
apprentice: 17-year-old Joe Talamo.
Kentucky invasion: A big contingent of local horsemen stormed the
Keeneland horse sales in Kentucky two weeks ago, picking up 39 horses, most of which
you'll likely see on the track this summer. Trainer Carl Anderson paid the
highest price--$25,000 for a 3-year-old. Trainer Clayton Gray has seven
he has high hopes for.
Race for peace: Omar,
the son of the most-wanted person in the universe, Osama bin Laden,
has been reported as saying he wants to hold a 5,000-kilometre horse
race across Africa to promote peace.
"It's about changing the
ideas of the Western mind. A lot of people think Arabs —
especially the bin Ladens, especially the sons of Osama — are all
terrorists. This is not the truth," Omar told the Associated Press last week at a cafe in a Cairo shopping mall. Do you
think Daddy is listening? .
A blazing talent
is silenced: Four months
ago, on the last day of live racing, I was gushing as usual over CBC broadcaster Don Wittman, telling him for
the umpteenth time how much I respected his ability to call so many
sports authoritatively, and we discussed whether he'd be making his
presence felt at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It is so, so sad that his health
declined so quickly without his having a chance to kick back and enjoy
retirement years. He so deserved
it. A blazing talent could only
watch as the Grim Reaper cleaned out his locker and turned out the
lights.
TIP O' THE WEEK: Concentrate on what you do best
No one is master of all
trades. Yet horseplayers think
they can be masters of every condition of race. I've yet to meet such a master. Instead of playing everything in
sight, save the money you would have spent on "iffy" flyers
and double or triple your bets on conditions you feel most comfortable
with.
BOFFO BUFFET: Feast on international cuisine tonight
Asian grilled pork
tenderloin, butter chicken, teriyaki stirfried veggies, Mexican
tortilla and cheese soup, nutritious salad bar, desserts from around
the world and much more will be served up at the all-you-can-eat feast
tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Terrace Dining Room for only $14.95. Menu. Next Thursday: French cuisine. Menu. Phone 885-3330 to
reserve.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Your guide to Sunshine Millions day Saturday
Racing begins: Laurel at 11:05 a.m. followed by Aqueduct and Tampa at 11:30 and Gulfstream at 11:45 a.m.
Contests to
enter: (1) Pick
up your free Elite-Eight entry form at the Race Book kiosk and predict
winners of the eight Sunshine Millions races. You could win $500. (2) Get your Tour d' Champs card
stamped any time between noon and 4 p.m. for a chance to win a trip to the Breeders'
Cup. When you get the card
stamped, you will receive an entry for a draw for classy Santa Anita
merchandise. (Draw to take place
about 4:15 p.m.) (3) Before Golden Gate begins at 2:15 p.m., play free Death by Golden Gate for $100 in
betting vouchers.
The big Sunshine
Millions races:
Gulfstream will feature (1) the $500,000 Sunshine
Millions Turf at 1 1/8 mile, (2) the $500,000 Distaff (fillies
and mares) at 1 1/16 mile, (3) the $300,000 Sprint at 6f and (4)
the $250,000 Sunshine Oaks for
3-year-old fillies at 6f.
Santa Anita will run (1) the $1 million Classic at 1 1/8
mile, (2) the $500,000 Fillies and Mare Turf at 1 1/8 mile, (3)
the $300,000 Fillies and Mares Sprint at 6f and (4) the $250,000
Sunshine Millions Dash for 3-year-olds at 6f.
How is it
determined whether California or Florida wins the better-bred competition? All races
have a mix of Cal and Florida breds.
Points are awarded for the top three finishers in the eight
races: 5 points for first, 3 for
second and 1 point for third.
The state that accumulates the most points wins.
The fast-paced
Magna Pick-5: Begins with Laurel at about 3:40 p.m. Look for
free programs.
See you Saturday beneath the palm trees!
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