A dozen straight titles for Indigenous trainers at Downs

THAT’S a wrap!

The 69^th season of live racing at Assiniboia Downs came to a close on Wednesday and for the 12th consecutive year the training title was won by an Indigenous horseman.

Trainer Jerry Gourneau of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota won his sixth trainer title at the Downs with a record of 54-45-43 from 280 starts and purse earnings of US$559,191.

And for the eighth straight year, Gourneau’s main owner, former champion race car driver Henry S. Witt, Jr. won the owner title at the Downs. He compiled a record of 46-41-40 from 242 starts and purse earnings of US$535,983.

Jockey Antonio Whitehall surged away from the competition late to win his fourth leading rider title with a record of 51-36-30 from 235 starts for US$561,645 in purse earnings.

Gourneau won his first training title at the Downs in 2018, and claimed it four consecutive seasons from 2020-2023, but this was a career year for him as a trainer. His overall record for the year, which includes racing at Century Mile in Alberta and at tracks south of the border, was 88-65-64 from 473 starts which vaulted him over the million-dollar mark in purse earnings for the first time at US$1,190,014.

Gourneau also conditioned one of the best three-year-olds in North America in Manitoba Derby runner-up Quarry, who went on the win the Canadian Derby (G3) at Century Mile in Alberta and the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs for owner Witt, who is the second-leading owner in North America by number of wins. Witt claimed the horse out of a race at Churchill Downs in June for $75,000.

“He’s a heck of a horse, ain’t he?” said Witt, who was very proud of the best horse he’s owned. Quarry earned $US$318,980 this year from a record of 3-2-1 in eight starts, and appears to be still improving.

“Jerry got him figured out,” said Witt. “I knew he just needed a little more time with him. He put quarter cup blinkers on him. With them full-cup blinkers you can’t see. He’s big-hearted. He would buckle down when he seen them coming. He’d buckle down and run. He wouldn’t let them pass him.

“We hauled him to Alberta, then hauled him all the way from Manitoba down to Texas, down to Shreveport, Louisiana. I brought him back to the ranch, and he was a little bit spent. I’m gonna rest him for about six weeks, then we’re gonna take him to Sam Houston on the first of December. I’m gonna send him down to Jerry, and he’s gonna keep an eye on him. He’s just three, so we’ve got a lot of fun coming with him.”

Witt claimed Quarry from the famed Caliborne farm, who has bred some of the best horses to have looked through a bridle including Ruffian, Buckpasser, Round Table, Personal Ensign and Easy Goer among others.

Were they upset that Witt claimed their horse and did well with it? The exact opposite.

“They sent me a big bottle of whiskey and a nice card with a jockey on it, and said congratulations,” said Witt. ”They’re getting a lot of appointments for his sire War of Will so they’re filling his book because of it. So yeah, they loved it.”

Witt has brought hundreds of horses to Manitoba over the past decade, and most of them have been claimed away.

“We’re coming back kind of almost empty like we did before,” said Witt. “Every year we make it harder for us to win because we have to outrun our own horses. They claimed the hell out of them. At one point they were claiming two or three a night sometimes. I was claiming them, sending them, claiming them, sending them. It’s good for the track.”

The Texans stock ends up spread through other barns, which deepens the fields every year and leads to more wagering.

“You can do it other places, but one reason I keep coming back is everybody always treats me good when I go up there. I always brag on them.”

It was only fitting that Chief Murray Clearsky presented the championship trophy to Witt’s trainer Gourneau. The long-time horseman has owned horses throughout his life and also maintains a racing stable at the Downs.

The Waywayseecappo First Nations Chief started with one horse.

“We were very poor back in the day,” said Clearsky. “My dad bought one horse, and I must have been five or six years old when I started riding. Then our neighbour, another First Nations neighbour, bought one horse, and we hooked them up together and made a team. That’s how we used to haul the wood for our houses.”

Clearsky now owns about 400 horses, including bucking horses for rodeos and teams for winter sleigh rides and he plans to be back at Assiniboia Downs with his racehorses next year.

“It’s hard to get into Edmonton and Calgary. You’ve got so many stalls, and once they’re filled… I would say there had to be 250 horses from Aboriginal people at the Downs this year. I’d like to see more racing days. I think it’s great to see a lot of Aboriginal people taking part. There’s 12 First Nations trainers there.”

And that fact that an Indigenous person has won the training title for 12 consecutive years?

“I’m proud of the gentleman that have done it,” said Clearsky.