A stream of muddy longshots, monster payoffs and excellent stakes performances highlighted the week at Assiniboia Downs.
Haggis ($93.20) kicked off the longshot train on Monday with a victory in the 6th race for trainer Brent Hrymak and jockey Dario Dalrymple, and he was followed by longshot Starship Paradise ($50.70) in the 7th race for leading trainer Jerry Gourneau and jockey Tyrone Nelson. That triggered a massive $1 Pick 4 payoff off $31,933.10 and a $3 Pick 3 payoff of $19,906.05!
The longshots kept rolling in the 3rd race on Tuesday when Canterbury shipper Elston Gunn ($39.70) dueled widest in the $50,000 Golden Boy Stakes and called on his back class to hold off local star Prime Suspect by half a length for trainer Tena Birdwell and jockey Shavon Townsend. Two races later in the 5th race trainer Jerry Gourneau was at it again with the longshots, turning loose Bergheim ($30.40) to win the $50,000 Free Press Stakes under Renaldo Cumberbatch. The combination of Elston Gunn and Bergheim combined with Golden Buck ($8.80) in the 4th race resulted in yet another huge $3 Pick 3 payoff off $3,908.85. And the longshots weren’t done yet.
In the 6th race on Tuesday, My Little Tootsie ($57.80) wired the field for trainer Judy Hunter and gave jockey Renaldo Cumberbatch his second big longshot of the evening. We finally got back to the favourites in the 7th race when You Vee Cee ($3.00) scored for trainer Steve Keplin, Jr., but the stage was already set for another lucrative $1 Pick 4 payoff of $7,671.10 and a $3 Pick 3 that paid $2,409.30.
The first five races on Wednesday were won by short-priced horses, but Century Mile shipper What a Force ($21.90) got the longshots back on track in the 6th race with a wire-to-wire victory in the $50,000 Chantilly Stakes for trainer Tim Rycroft and jockey Jose Asencio. Favourites came back to the fore in the 7th race when trainer Robertino Diodoro saddled Turf Paradise shipper Dontgiveupthefight ($6.00) to win the $50,000 La Verendrye Stakes under jockey Kimal Santo.
Notably, the La Verendrye was filled with all kinds of trouble trips, including that of runner-up Rocky Bae Rae ($24.30), another Turf Paradise shipper who was just up for the place for trainer Cindy Krasner after being squeezed and steadied early. If you’re looking for a future longshot you might find one in this race replay.
And yet another longshot got the job done in the final race of the week on Wednesday when Will the Thrill ($28.40) rallied to win a close photo over Shamayim ($19.10) for trainer Fred Rawson and jockey Sven Balroop, resulting in a $1 Pick 4 of $2,068.25 and a $3 Pick 3 of $2,285.25. It seemed there was money to be made everywhere during the week, if you could just find the right longshots to include in your multi-race wagers, especially in the Pick 3s.
Trainer Jerry Gourneau continued his dominance, scoring hat tricks on Monday and Wednesday and adding two more victories on Tuesday to open up a massive lead in the standings. He now has 30 wins, 18 more than runner-up Steve Keplin, Jr., and is winning at a 26% clip. On the jockey side, Sven Balroop won three races on the week to bring his total to 15 victories, three more than Antonio Whitehall (12), and it appears no one is going to run away with the jockey title this season. Dario Dalrymple and Javaniel Patterson have 10 wins apiece, followed by Shavon Townsend and Tyrone Nelson with seven each.
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