NEW CONTEST! When will lockout end? On what day will there be an official announcement that the NHL lockout is over? Send your prediction, giving the day, month and year to theinsider@ASDowns.com by this Saturday midnight, Oct. 13. Tie-breaker: Also predict the score in the Jets' first game after the lockout ends (e.g. Jets 4 Rival team 0). The closest to the correct date (without going over) wins a Fun Night at the Downs which will include a Thursday Angus prime rib buffet for two, 16 free VLT spins on the game of your choice and $20 in wagering vouchers. Good luck! (One answer per person and per email address, please.)
PICK 'EM CONTEST RETURNS TONIGHT! Predict winner and pick-3 at Remington (a) Predict the winner of race 5 at Remington Park and (b) the pick-3 in races 5,6 & 7 and email your predictions in the subject line to theinsider@ASDowns.com by 8 p.m. Prizes: $20 in wagering vouchers for each prediction, doubled if the winner is present Friday between 8 and 9 p.m. when the winner is announced. (A draw will break a tie.) Prizes increase by $20 each week when they are not won. Bon chance! (As usual, one answer per person and per email address, please.)
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Enjoy beef bourguignon tonight |
BEEF BOURGUIGNON and walleye in roasted red pepper sauce are two of the entrees on tonight's all-you-can-eat certified Angus prime rib buffet for $22.95 (seniors--65-plus--$19.95) which also includes home-style soup, freshly baked breads, salad bar, other entrees and side dishes AND NOTE you now have a choice of FOUR different tantalizing desserts. Plus a little free fun afterward: A VLT spin that could win you up to $1,000 (last week, diner Jim Roberts pocketed $25). Phone 204-885-3330 and dive into deliciousness between 5 and 8 p.m. tonight.
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A favourite memory
As summer has turned into fall and snowflakes start to fly, scenes like this, on Derby weekend, come to mind as having made the summer of 2012 particularly memorable. |
WHAT WAS DARREN'S FAVOURITE RACE CALL? What race call do you think was announcer Darren Dunn's favourite during the 2012 live season? (a) The Manitoba Lotteries Derby when Balooga Bull re-asserted himself as the best horse on the grounds? (b) the Marathon Series finale on the last day of racing when two jockeys mistook the end of the race? (c) the Aug. 22 race that Darren called correctly but the stewards muffed with the wrong order of finish? (d) the Matron stakes on Sept. 14 won by a mare who wins no other race than that stakes race three years in a row? See answer at bottom of column.
Quick bits . . .
Chantal fails breathalyzer, suspension ends today
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Chantal Sutherland
Too much to drink |
She's earned a reputation over the past little while for taking it off. But on the Thanksgiving long weekend, it was the stewards at Woodbine who were taking HER off -- taking Canadian jockey/cover girl Chantal Sutherland off the mounts she was supposed to ride while visiting Woodbine because she failed a breathalyzer test Saturday morning. They also fined her $300 and banned her from riding for five calendar days ending today. So she could only watch in disappointment as her horses, Seaneen Girl, finished second in a $200,000 stakes race, two horses won and two others finished second. Her next riding assignment will be on her home turf, Santa Anita, on Saturday.
Actually, I think Chantal had every good reason to hit the bottle after trainer Bob Baffert replaced her with Rafael Bejarano on Game on Dude in the Awesome Again stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 29 because she had finished second in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in August. Dude won and Bejarano earned $15,000. Boo, Baffert! After all, Chantal had finished a game second with Dude in the Breeders' Cup Classic last fall.
XL FOODS NOT AN ASD SUPPLIER: It's important for Assiniboia Downs diners to know that XL Foods, the Alberta company at the centre of recalled beef products, is NOT a supplier to the track. And that the Downs serves only certified Angus beef, the best possible beef in the marketplace. Tonight is prime rib night, of course, in the Terrace Dining Room from 5 to 8 p.m. with other tasty dishes including beef bourguignon and walleye in a roasted red pepper sauce. (See above.)
ASD PLAYERS IN VEGAS--BEST FINISH IS 31ST: Ten veteran ASD players entered the fall horseplayer tournament at the Orleans hotel in Las Vegas last weekend where one player finished a decent 31st out of 380 entrants and picked up $550 in prize money which was in addition to $350 in "day money" for having finished 7th on the first day of the three day tournament that cost $500 to enter. One local player blanked, picking no winners in 36 tries, while looking for longshots throughout the tourney. The next Orleans tournament is the "world series" in February where winners in tournaments during live racing will be joining the fray to win a first prize of about $300,000.
HAVE YOU DISCOVERED LOW-PRICED KEENELAND BETS? As reported in the last Insider, Keeneland is the first U.S. track to offer Canadians the possibility of making 20-cent superfecta bets and 60-cent bets on triactors, pick-3s, pick-4s and the pick-5.
A REAL PAIN IN THE BUTT: While playing synthetic tracks may be considered a pain in the butt to some horseplayers, those tracks are proving to be a deadly pain in the butt to horses themselves. In a report presented recently to the California Horse Racing Board, it was shown that of 111 horses who died racing on synthetic race tracks in 2008, 19 resulted from hind-end injuries whereas only one horse succumbed to similar injuries out of 65
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George McLean
1936-2012 |
horses racing on a dirt surface. No wonder ASD horse owner John Ganas said his visit to the backstretch at Woodbine--which has a Polytrack surface--showed myriad horses with hind-end problems that prevent them from racing more than once a month.
ANOTHER SAD PASSING: Right to the end, retired firefighter George McLean had racing programs delivered to him at Grace Hospital where he died of cancer on Sept. 26 at the age of 76. He had served with the Winnipeg Fire Department for 39 years until his retirement in 1995. Some of his fondest times were at the track where he last entered a horseplayer tournament in June. Condolences go out to his family and friends.
THE "I WON BIG" WORKSHOP GROUP CATCHES A $28 HORSE in its pick-6 ticket Saturday at Belmont but misses a $58 horse that wins because the group's horse got a bad trip. There were two winning tickets that paid $66,000 each. It was an important session nonetheless because certain aspects of group play became clearer--which will be put into play this Saturday at 11 a.m. in the lower-level Finish Line. Once again, everyone is invited and will receive a free share in the tickets. And, yes, this time there will be knives to spread the butter on your muffins so you don't have to use your fingers or coffee stir sticks. Sorry, John!
REASON YOU COULDN'T BET ARC: Last Sunday's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the biggest race in Europe in the fall, was unavailable to Canadian bettors this year because there was no separate North American pool as in previous years and Woodbine experienced "issues" that prevented wagers from flowing directly into the betting pool in France. The Arc was won by 41-1 outsider, Solemia.
Other winners: