There were plenty of kids in hockey jerseys in the crowd, despite the 30c weather Saturday night at Hanover Raceway.
That's because a tradition started close to 10 years ago when Hanover competed in the CBC Hockeyville contest to try and obtain funding for a new arena was kept alive in spirit.
GM Gord Dougan says "The Hockeyville contest brought our town together like we hadn't seen in a long time." He adds, Hockeyville night at the races is a reminder that it takes all members of the community to come together to be successful.
The Hanover Rotary Club and Hanover Canadian Tire sponsored the night with 6 brand new bicycles, and kids wearing a hockey jersey put their ballot into the box next to their favorite bike. A total of 6 bikes were given away in total with a retail value over close to $1,000 dollars. The Rotary club also held a 50-50 draw during the night and are still looking for the winning ticket worth $585.00.
On the track, 3 different drivers, Bruce Richardson, Ryan Holliday and Clark Stacey all had driving doubles.
Holliday won races 1 and 3 behind Passionate Pete in 1:58.1 and Majormotionpicture in 2:02. Richardson won 2 trotting races, race 6 with Summer Shower in 2:03.4 and race 9 with Pembroke Chip in 2:02.3. And Stacey won race 5 with After Market in 1:57 and Race 7 with Selmas Wish in 1:57.4.
Hanover Raceway plays host to its 3rd annual Country 93 Survivor contest next Saturday. Fans will have the chance to fill in a ballot in their program and will select a horse in 4 different races. If all 4 horses finish in the money, they advance to the Survivor finale on August 6th for a chance to win a High Def TV courtesy of Country 93 and HDTV in Walkerton. Racing fans can enter every Saturday night in July and can qualify for the final night more than once.
Post time next Saturday is 7:15pm
Gord Dougan