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Times Advocate, 1992-07-22, Page 13Career going strong After 25 years, Hardy still driving By Fred Groves T -A staff LUCAN - Sometimes the merry go -round in Ken Hardy's world never stops. But the horses on this merry-go- round are not wooden. They are living, breathing, strong and pow- erful animals. For 25 years, Hardy, one of the best hamess drivers in the prov- ince, has been pulling the reigns and cracking the whip on his way to nearly 2,600 wins. With that many victories beneath his sulky wheels, it's quite obvious to see this is a full-time career. A livelihood that has been passed down from his father and uncle and one his 21 -year-old son Glen will soon be pursuing. The Hardy farm in Lucan has always smelled of hors- es. Ken's father Norm and his uncle Jack were part-time train- ers. "He and my uncle were part- ners for years. They had horses when I was a lit- tle kid," said Hardy, 43. He said al- though he was around horses ever since he can remember, his father and uncle did not force him into becoming a driver. "It was just a sideline for them. They farmed and had a wholesale butcher busi- ness." In the 25 years that Hardy has been driv- ing, there has been a lot of changes. The number of spectators and betters at the tracks is smaller and the rules it takes to become a driver are differ- ent. "It was fairly simple when 1 got my license. 1 think 1 had to have two qualifying drives. My son (Glen) is getting his license right now and they have a point system." Hardy explained, a perfect drive is five points so it could be possi- ble after ten perfect drives to get a license. Busy schedule: Hardy is con- stantly in and out of the farm house's backdoor. If not out to clean the stable and tend to the horses' many needs, it's into the car and off to a track to drive. Thursday he was behind the two- year old trotter Ladies Mirror and won the $20,000 Grassroots series race at the Goderich Raceway. The next night he picked up career win 2,570 at Scioto Downs in Ohio. Saturday night he raced at Flam- boro Downs, Sunday in Orange- ville and Monday at Toronto's Greenwood. "I've been fairly busy the last while once the Sires Stakes started. I'm not driving anywhere on a regu- lar basis. They seem to come in rushes." Going from track to track, night after night and behind different horses takes a lot of stamina. Every horse is different, but this driver seems to be able to sit back and come across the finish line first. "Basically it's not too hard. You get a little information off the pro- gram and a hole information from the trainer. Hardy has nearly eight and a half million dollars in carver earnings. But of that, the driver collects five per cent, and the trainer gets five percent while the owner takes home the rest. Surprisingly, Hardy does not .keep a strict count of just how merry wins he has. "I bad a basic idea of how many. I knew I was over 2,000 but I didn't know exactly where I was. I read somewhere I went over 2,500 over the winter in Windsor." Last year, Hardy was the co - .owner of the two-year-old trotting colt Royal Athem which won S19,954 and guided Glendale Free- dom to three Onta- rio Sires Stakes Ken Hardy, !eft; with son Greg and one of the horses they board at their Lucan farm, One. victories and $42,000 in. win- nings. He has had a long and very suc- cessful career and right now anyway, it doesn't look like there is an end in sight. And just how long will he con- tinue to drive? "Probably until no one wants me to drive anymore," he said with a chuck- le. He said there are a lot of successful 45 -year-old, and older drivers that continue to be suc- cessful. "When nobody else wants me to kine U(fwally de- oide I won't want to drive." When he does re- tire from driving, Hardy's love for the sport will not Debby's stop as he plans to train horses and keep the family tradition going. Senior baseball Hern homers in 12th, Express beat Listowel LISTOWEL A 12th inning home run by catcher Kevin Hem put an end to a very exciting Great Lakes Senior Baseball League game here Thursday night. Hem's solo blast came with one out and gave the Express a 7-6 win and their ninth win of the season. However, on Sunday in Exeter the Express came up short in a 19-11 score with Lakeside. Thursday night, lefthar.Jer Paul Elston got the start and he com- bined to get the win with relievers Doug Schade and Dave Atthiil. Exeter held a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth but the home team got three runs off of a fielders' choice. a single and a home run. The Express scored two runs in the fourth when Brian Rivard dou- bled. Barry Baynham was safe on an error, Rick Boon singled, Ron Elliott was safe on a fielders' choice and Kerry Hedden had abase hit. Singles by Rivard and Baynham in the fifth along with a couple of errors resulted in another run and Dave Russell scored in the seventh on hits by Rivard and Boon. Rivard had one of his best days at the plate as the centrefielder went 4 -for -5. Errors and walks saw the Express plate two more in the eighth. Lakeside 19, Exeter 11 In Exeter on Sunday, visiting Lakeside banged out 21 hits, in- Lucan Juniors split GODERICH - The Lucan Juniors are creeping closer to the top of the Western Junior Baseball League. Friday they visited front -running Goderich and handed that team just their second loss of the season. However, a return visit to Lucan on Sunday, saw the tables turned and Goderich still leads the league. In the fust game between these two clubs played Friday, Lucan won a close 13-12 decision. Lucan bats were booming early as Cory Burtch and Brad Coughlin connected with back-to-back hom- ers and it was 3-0 in the fust in- ning. Both would have another round -tripper in the game. The visitors plated six more in the second on five hits, a pair of Continued on page 15 eluding four for extra bases to hand the Express their suxth loss of the season. Imperials set for provincials n just nine short days, the Exeter Im- perials will be pack- ing up their ball gloves and spikes and head- ing to the provincial finals in Owen Sound. At the beginning of the sea- son there was sone question of whether or not they would have a team good enough to go to this tournament. There was even the remote possibility there would be no Exeter men's fastball team at all. While teams do not focus around one player. That's a differ- ent story in fastball. Without a quality pitcher, forget it. Exeter has got a quality pitcher in Derwyn Hodgins. While few know him by his given name, I'll just refer to him as Der- by the rest of this column. Derby is one of the premier fastball hurlers in the province if not the nation. He's a very hard thrower who, in my three years of watching him, gets better as the game goes on. For most of the season, Derby has been throwing to veteran catcher Brian Noyes of Lucan. If you are a spectator of this game, you know how important the catcher is. These two make up a heck of a combination. Noyes does not wear a chest protector, few catchers do, and he's had a lot of balls bounce off his knees, arms and fingers. But beyond these two positions, the Imperials are made up of a cast of many. Many times, coach Chuck Humbey has had to do a lot of pondering as to who to put in where. At the Provincials in Owen Sound, Exeter should be going in as one of the strongest teams. They have depth everywhere. What's interesting about this team is there are several players in their early to mid -thirties, plus a handful of speedy youngsters just out of their teens. While Noyes and Derby will anchor the defensive end of things and supply a lot of leadership, there are seven other players on the field plus a very strong bench. First base is the biggest question mark for the Imperials. Not a lack of good players but rather, too many. Kevin Lightfoot is the best fielding first baseman on the team. He's got quick hands and his bat isn't that bad. He can play the outfield which shows his versatility. Doug Chariton goes to the tournament as the second pitcher and will see a lot of action on the mound. He hits well over .400 so you either have to have him at first when not pitching, or as the designated hitter. Just a note here, in men's fastball, it's called the designated player which means the pitcher can hit and in both Derby and Charlton's case, they get a lot of rips. Jeff Shipley can play first, but he's the club's number one designated hitter. Catcher Graham Nesbitt, who will give Noyes a rest, plays first and the outfield. Second base is taken over by Jim Allison and Mike Desjar- dine. The latter has also played shortstop and the outfield. The rest of the infield is up for grabs with Steve Neil and Ke- vin Windsor available at third and Dan Heywood and Rob Scneckenberger at short. If Heywood gets moved out of the short spot, he will be in the lineup at either third or maybe even second. He's got rangy steady bat and is one of the club's leaders. That leaves the outfield, and this is where the club domi- nates because of their excellent speed. Sandy Hyde is in center field and his running mate Darren Neil is in right to guard the line. These two 21 year-olds bring a lot of spark to the team with their competitiveness between themselves including who can get the most stolen bases. Hyde, in my opinion is the fastest base runner in the South Perth League. He just needs a little more experience on the base paths. As far as the Imperials chances go, they have a good shot. who knows, perhaps we could have a provincial champion here in town. From the sidelines:...Still on fastball, I had a little chat with my neighbour Doug Rimmer the other day and tins youngster is playing on three teams, that's a lot of ball...Received a post card from Kathy Meurer last week, she's skating in China. Also, a note from Brad Gregus who is work- ing ing in Europe this summer. (Deluxe 15' rims and new tires, shown $255 extra) 2' plank flat deck (6'10' x 16'), 15' used tires, )steel rails w/pockets, jack, safety chains, lights, tandem axle, 7000 Ib capacity 5'*ot1 single axle Dump. 6 -bolt 15" rims, new implement tires, 6'6" x 10' deck, jack, H.D. design $1,995°° 4 ton single axle, NM 5' x 7' deck w/6" sides, jack, 6 -boll 15" rims with used car tires. $1.,685°° rau�n,.r lasts RCM FARM EQUIPMENT - EXETER, ONTARIO Sales, Service & Rentals since 1932 (sig) FAX (519) 1 5 ton single axle fydrauU pump. 6 -bolt 15" rims, new implement tires, 6'6" x 10' deck 52,395°° Exeter Express third baSeman Bill Glover, right; got the tag down a little late In S # city s sen- ior baseball game.