Assiniboia Downs celebrated the 76th running of the $125,000 Manitoba Derby tonight with a fabulous crowd, and the excitement of the race was matched by huge wagering numbers.
Canterbury Park shipper Bricklayer, far back early in the race, was deftly guided between horses by jockey Luis Fuentes on the final turn and came flying home to take over in mid-stretch and draw away late. Owned and trained by Larry Gourneau, Jr. Bricklayer paid $14.90, $6.50, $5.00 across the board as the co-third choice in the wagering, and made a lot of punters very happy.
The enthusiasm from the crowd was in the air from Race 1 but ratcheted up a notch when Spitten Kitten won the $50,000 Escape Clause stakes by inches over 61-1 shot Jj’s American Diva under jockey Renaldo Cumberbatch for trainer Marvin Buffalo and his ownership partners, wife Deb, and Arnold Souster.
The excitement continued to build in the next race, the $50,000 Harvey Warner Manitoba Mile Stakes, when 5/2 Blazing Bo won a hard-fought battle with last year’s Manitoba Mile winner Big Nick. It was the second consecutive stakes win for Blazing Bo, who was ridden by Prayven Badrie for owners A2 Thoroughbreds and trainer Mike Nault.
Fans wagered $3,743,784 on the 8-race card, the highest Derby night handle in the track’s history.
A key highlight of the race card was the mandatory payout of the ASD Jackpot Pick 5. The carryover going into the program was $444,576 and horseplayers responded by wagering an additional $1.98 million into the Pick 5 pool to raise the total pool to over 2.4 million at post time. A $1 Jackpot Pick 5 ticket paid $4,870.45
Adding to the excitement, the $100,000 guaranteed Pick 4 ballooned to $189,155, underscoring the strong appeal of this pool all year.
“What a fantastic night!” exclaimed Darren Dunn, CEO. “The ambiance of the huge crowd creates such an energy in the grandstand. It is wonderful to the see the crowd so engaged and the monster wagering pools for the event. We are so thankful for all of the support from fans, horsepeople and the ASD team.”
Racing at Assiniboia Downs continues Tuesday August 6 at 7:30 pm (Central Time) and then restarts Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the following week. Visit ASDowns.com for more information.
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