By Scott Taylor (@staylorsports)
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Trainer Steve Keplin Jr. congratulates jockey Sven Balroop after riding Exacting to a win in the Nephrite Overnight Stakes at Assiniboia Downs on August 27, 2024. Exacting has a good shot at winning the Gold Cup. (JASON HALSTEAD PHOTO)
WINNIPEG — Assiniboia Downs CEO Darren Dunn has always called the Gold Cup his favourite race of the year. Press him enough and he will quietly admit that it excites him even more than the Manitoba Derby.
“It is my favourite race,” Dunn said. “To me, this is horse racing’s equivalent of hockey’s man-maker drill. It tests the best of the best at the challenging distance of the Manitoba Derby – a mile and an eighth. This goes a long way to determining who is the champion of our season.
“It’s a six-horse field, very competitive and while Blazing Bo has worn the crown, very deservedly all year, having won the Harvey Warner Manitoba Mile and the R.J. Speers Stakes and just missing in the recent Nephrite to Exacting, I would say that strategically, Exacting looks like he may have the tactical advantage as the lone speed. This is going to be ‘catch me if you can,’ as Exacting goes for three in a row for trainer Steve Keplin Jr., who is finishing so strongly this year. His horses are en pointe. Exacting could very well turn the tables on Blazing Bo once again Blazing Bull is the horse to beat but there is a real lack of speed and Exacting could get out and go gate-to-wire.”
The $50,000 Gold Cup will go to post on Tuesday night at ASD. It’s Race 6 at about 9:40 p.m. and it has a short but tremendous field:
The 2024 Gold Cup
Some ASD experts consider this year’s running of the Gold Cup to be a two-horse race between Blazing Bo and Exacting, but Dunn thinks differently. He believes there are at least two other horses with a shot at the crown.
“I want to throw in a mention for a hard-knocking horse named Big Nick who has been so close this summer,” Dunn said. “He was third in Nephrite and second in the Harvey Warner. He won a number of Stakes races last year. Then there is last year’s champion Magic Tiger. He’ll try to find the winner’s circle – 0-for-5 this year – after winning five times last year. He has won $110,000, but he just hasn’t found a win, but he’s rounding into form, but the clock isn’t on his side. This will be his last race here.
“Then, not to be left without a mention is, maybe, the dark horse who will be good value at the wickets and that’s Roussette, for Assiniboia Downs leading owner Henry Witt Jr. and leading trainer Lee Delaronde. He’s the three-year-old who had a very troubled trip in the Manitoba Derby. He’s a three-year-old taking on older horses but at this time of year, the playing field is fairly level. I was in Edmonton to watch him run the Canadian Derby, a $200,000 Grade III race where he ran a super, super third and comes back to this track ready to go. It would not shock me to see him pull off a bit of an upset. He’s the only one in the field that I can see keeping pace with Exacting on the front end.
“Ultimately, I think it’s Exacting’s race to lose. As I mentioned, it will be ‘catch-me-if-you-can’ and I can certainly see Blazing Bo and Big Nick are going to be thirsty to do the catching with Roussette not to be underestimated. I proudly love presenting this trophy at the end of each year. It is my favourite race.”
The Gold Cup will cap a tremendous week of major stakes as the Downs barrels toward the final night of racing on Sept. 24.
On Monday night, Sept. 16, in Race 2, it will be our first clear look at 2025, as five horses will go to post in the $40,000 Buffalo Stakes for two-year-olds. And then, in Race 6, it will be a six-horse field in the $40,000 Buffalo Stakes for three-year-old Manitoba breds featuring the brilliant No Show No Call who has won four times this summer including the Frank Arnason Memorial Sire Stakes.
Then, on Tuesday night in Race 7, following the Gold Cup, it’s another look at 2025 as the $50,000 Winnipeg Futurity for two-year-old fillies goes to post featuring the favourite, trainer Jared Brown’s Gee I’m Foxy.
It’s going to be a two-night week with racing only on Monday and Tuesday, but it will be the biggest two-day stretch of the 2024 meet.
“It’s not the last chance to dance for the season before the horses go south or out to pasture, it is a big week,” said Dunn. “We want to finish strong. It’s been an interesting race meet, dominated by the quarantine that we had, but we’ve had large crowds and very strong wagering and there have been a lot of positives to go with some of the challenges we’ve had. I want to finish strong. Our team is focused and we will see this meet through to the end on Sept. 24 in a very positive way.”
A major positive this past week was the milestone reached by the superb veteran trainer Carl Anderson, who saddled the 1,200th winner of his incredible career. Anderson grew up near Sturgeon Road in Winnipeg, started to walk horses at the track when he was 13, and took out his first trainer’s license at the age of 19. He won 10 trainer titles in Saskatchewan between 1987 and 1998 and tied with Tom Gardipy Jr. for the ASD championship in 1998. He’s also an amazing four-time winner of the Gold Cup.
He’s won 14 races here at the Downs this season.
Meanwhile, Lee Delaronde leads the trainers’ race with 39 wins, 35 seconds and 22 thirds. He’s won $409,907 and is a lock to win the 2024 trainers’ crown. Michael Nault is next with 23 wins while Jared Brown and Devon Gittens have 20 wins each.
On the jockeys’ side, Prayven Badrie won three times this past week to put a lock on the 2024 jockeys’ title. Badrie leads all jockeys with 50 wins, 14 more than No. 2, Damario Bynoe. Defending champ Antonio Whitehall is 14 wins behind with just four nights of racing remaining in 2024.
As noted, live thoroughbred racing returns to Assiniboia Downs on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. There will be four stakes races on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
