WINNIPEG – One of the favourites to win this year’s Kentucky Derby has a Manitoba connection.
Goldencents, who will run for the roses on Saturday, was foaled by a Manitoba mare named Golden Works.
Golden Works was raised at the Assiniboia Downs racetrack, at the western edge of Winnipeg.
“It’s a real shot in the arm for Manitoba breeders and certainly that they are at least on the track with some of their efforts,” Assiniboia Downs CEO Darren Dunn said about the Derby connection.
Manitoba racehorses are generally bred to race in the province, Dunn said.
“It is very unusual, this connection to the Kentucky Derby.”
Golden Works was sold to a U.S. breeder for $7,000. She’s now worth much more.
Goldencents won a spot at the Kentucky Derby by winning the $750,000 Santa Ana Derby on Saturday in California.
U.S. college basketball coach Rick Pitino, whose Louisville team won the NCAA championship on April 8, owns the three-year-old colt.
The race season at Assiniboia Downs starts the same weekend as the Kentucky Derby, and the track will have big-screen TVs so local fans can cheer on Goldencents.
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