Pedal power: Bike Week rolls into Winnipeg
Winnipeg Watch
Dave Elmore, Bike Week chairperson, shares what's in store for riders during the city-wide celebration happening June 8–14.
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'Roy Bittner and Melvin Schanzenbach would come down to Atokad in Nebraska when Assinboia Downs closed up. I was just a kid then, in 67-68. 'Schanzy' had a horse named John Jet. He was lengths ahead of the other South Dakota-breds. He brought him back in the fall of the year to win some of the bigger races.' In 1998, at age 45, Mott surpassed H. Allen Jerkens as the youngest trainer ever to be inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame. He's won 15 Breeders Cup races, two Kentucky Derbies, two Belmont Stakes and the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in North America four times. He's won 5,513 races and over US$360 million in purses. He started training horses shortly after leaving Manitoba, which he recalled fondly. 'I was living on the ranch in St. Laurent by myself after we got it fenced,' said Mott. 'Then it was just me and a guy named Swede Benoit from South Dakota. We took care of all the cattle and the horses. You have to ride up there. It's pretty rough country. 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