Canada's National Driving Championship will take place tonight, Friday, October 14, at The Raceway at Western Fair District in London, Ontario. The winner of the harness racing event will represent the host nation in the 2017 World Driving Championship, to be held next August in Canada, hosted by Standardbred Canada.
Eight drivers from across the country have qualified in four regional events, and will congregate in London, Ont. with first race post time set for 7:05 pm EST this evening.
The Championship, presented by Standardbred Canada, is an eight-race event with drivers earning points based on their finishing positions. Drivers were able to have input into the horses they will be driving as a draft was conducted Tuesday for them to choose their horses in each race, before the post position draw was made.
Here's a look at the drivers:
Driver
|
Years | Starts | Wins | Earnings |
Brandon Campbell | 14 | 8,330 | 1,220 | $7.45 million |
Guy Gagnon | 29 | 26,181 | 4,619 | $21.6 million |
Trevor Henry | 28 | 31,966 | 6,015 | $42.8 million |
Jason Hughes | 25 | 6,998 | 1,070 | $1.80 million |
Brett MacDonald | 2 | 554 | 67 | $316,862 |
James MacDonald | 8 | 13,175 | 1,476 | $17.9 million |
Corey MacPherson | 8 | 3,838 | 593 | $970,977 |
Jim Marino | 19 | 13,065 | 2,003 | $11.9 million |
The NDC races are carded as races 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10.
The Point System
The National Driving Championship will adapt the point system utilized in the World Driving Championship. Points will be awarded on the order of finish as follows:
Number of Starters: 8
15 (1st)
10 (2nd)
7 (3rd)
5 (4th)
4 (5th)
3 (6th)
2 (7th)
1 (8th)
In the event of a scratch, where an also eligible horse is not available, the driver receives 5 points.
To view the completed fields, click here or view program pages here courtesy of TrackIT.
Trot Insider will provide live coverage of the NDC on standardbredcanada.ca. For live video streaming of the event, click here: westernfairdistrict.com.
Darryl Kaplan
Manager, Industry Communications and Business Development
Standardbred Canada
Editor, Trot Magazine
905-858-3077, ext. 241
dkaplan@standardbredcanada.ca