The warm, wet and frosty backstretch at Assiniboia Downs is in full swing now with more horses arriving weekly in preparation for opening day, Monday, May 23, and trainer spirits are springtime high as always at this time of year.
There are already 190 horses on the grounds. Champion Melisandre was seen galloping strongly for trainer Lise Pruitt and jockey Stanley Chadee Jr. Wednesday morning on the Assiniboia training track and more Manitoba-bred stars are also on the grounds. Tom Gardipy’s assistant trainer Curtis Gamble was cuddling up to $100,000 plus earner Sweet Design with hopes of another big season.
Trainers with horses currently on the grounds and/or in transit include Lise Pruitt (21 horses), Wendy Anderson (20), Shelley Brown (18), Elton Dickey (15), Steve Gaskin (12), Blair Miller (12), Devon Gittens (11), Tiffany Husbands (10), Mike Nault (10), Courtney Ross (9), Mike Taphorn (8), Tom Gardipy Jr. (8), Fred Rawson (7), Carl Anderson (6), Curtis Maxwell (6), Ryan Desjarlais (6), Jenn Jordan (5), Blair Kidd (3), Larry Cizik (2), Jim Donley (2), and Steve Thompson (2).
Taphorn might be a trainer to watch at good odds this year. Now in his third year at the Downs, Taphorn has improved his stable this year, and he has some back class, having trained multiple Marquis Downs stakes winner and 15-time winner Standoff from 2006-2008. People will also be following former Downs trainer Blair Miller, who has returned to the Downs this year to train for 2 Points Ranch.
The Assiniboia shedrow of young trainer Mike Taphorn – courtesy The Inside Track
And how about 77-year-old cagey veteran Carl Anderson, who says he could have had 30 horses this year if he wanted to. The 4-time Gold Cup winning-trainer is as good as they get with class horses and he’s got another in McKague that might just be able to pull off a Gold Cup victory if he keeps improving. Anderson has been around long enough to remember Hall of Famer Bill Mott ponying horses for him in the early days of his career at the Downs, and still learns something every day.
Current jockeys on the grounds include Stanley Chadee Jr., Kayla Pizarro, Nirone Austin, Renaldo Cumberbatch and Dwight Lewis. Also expected to return for the 2022 season are 2021 leading rider Jorge Carreno and two-time Downs champ Antonio Whitehall (2018, 2020), along with 2015 leading rider Chavion Chow, Ronald Ali, Sheldon Chickeness, Neville Stephenson and Shavon Belle. Other possible riders for the 2022 season include 2019 leading rider Richard Mairs, 2018 leading rider Prayven Badrie, Tyrone Nelson, Rasheed Hughes, Dane Dawkins, Arthur Badhu, and Leonel Camach-Flores from Turf Paradise.
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