The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-08-28, Page 26\� ..\„ eke \�\\ \\��
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first race, places first
Paul Nice Jr. sits aboard the bike behind Jan's Pride after
winning the first race of, his life. The niiie yea • old brought the
•
Mrs. Harold Cooper and
'Ronald visited with Dr. and
Mrs. David Walker, and family
in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs, Glen McDonald
and family of Wood"stock were
weekend visitors with Mr. and
Mrs. Harold Gaunt, Douglas
and Janice.
David Mewhinney returned
home on Saturday following
surgery 'at Thornhill this past
week.
M s. Earl Hodgins of Bervie
is visiting with her daughter,
Mrs. Lorne Forster, Mr.
Forster and boys.
Scott and Robert Campbell of
London. enjoyed a holiday on
^the farm with Mr. and Mrs.
Wm. McPherson and family.
Fired'tlstroyed the barns of
former St. Helen's residents,
Mr. and' Mrs.. Jack Aitchison
and Mr. and Mrs, . Dirk
,Logtenberg (Tenie De Boer)
during the past week.
Mr, and Mrs. Gerald Dor-
scht, Douglas " and Donald
enjoyed a --holiday to the East
Coast returning on Wednesday.
Mrs. Vera Parr who resides
with her daughter, Mrs. Gerald
Dorscht has- beeni hospitalized
in Kitchener and underwent
surgery recently.
Mr, and Mrs. ,Ross Gammie
spent° a few. days with Mr. and
Mrs. Grant Gammie at Fergus:
Goderich Sr.
Citizens begin
season
The Goderich Senior Citiiens
will be starting their fall season
Wednesday, September _.4 . at
McKay Hall at8p.m.
Afternoon card games will
begin Tuesday, September 3 at
2 p.m
Any senior citizens are in-
vited to attend either or both
gatherings.
Harbor',
Report'
By -Ron Graham
August 21 the E.B.. Barber
„arrived light from Sarnia 'for
salt, August .24 the Algorail
arrived light from Sarnia for,
. salt. August 23 the Canadian
1., 'Coast Guard Cutter Rapid
'returned, from patrol. August
25 the tugboat Roger R. Simons
arrived.
PAGE 1O—GQDERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1975
Pony racin
A little money
foiaIot of fun
Every second Saturday,night and driven by.,." .
the village. of Blyth is invaded The race is over, except -the
by hordes of horsemen and the , . post mortems, in the paddock.
The owners- and drivers hash
out the race as they 'frantically
change harnesses to other
entries or turn the reins of the
cart over to their son, daughter
or -wife for the novice or powder
puff race.
The card is the same each
night. The owner's number one
horses each compete in two
heats:while the children race in
the novice race and the wives in
the powder puff. The highligit
of Saturday night's card wa
the Nice family from Clinton,•-
Paul Sr., Paul Jr., and Trudy.
They all drove one of the
family. ponies, Jan% Pride, in a
race. The paddock chatter
placed Paul Jr. as the favorite
for, the fastest half mile. Paul
Sr, brought Jan's Pride across
in., 2:19.2 and threatened to
disown his nine year old son if
he beat the old man.
Undaunted Paul Jr, took the
reins for his very first race and
left the pack for ° an un-
paralleled time of V.02,2. His
mother jokingly accepted the
taunting of the other racers as
she took over Jan's Pride for
the powder puff and although
she couldn't match her son's
time, she did beat her husband
by a second crossing the wire in
2:18 flat.
W'h'eri-ask ,d'by-his father how 'c•
he enjoyed racing, Paul Jr. said
it was fun. But, he added, he
kept getting a mouthful of
stones from the pony's feet.
Paul Sr.,' boasting with pride,'
told the other drivers that Jan' s,
Pride had never trotted before
and that his 'son. had; never
driven a race before•tonigh, .
"She always paced and we
wanted to see how she would do
in a trot," he 'exclairned. "We
cross hobbled her and put
Paulie 'in the cart and bingo!
She goes in just over two
minutes,"
No one minds Paul Sr.'s
moment of glory. It's all part of
the thrills and fun of pony
racing. The question the
drivers were all asking after
the novice race was "what
' normally quiet streets come
alive with the pitter patter of
tiny hoofbeats. •
The horsemen, a'tually
ponymen, gather• at the Blyth
race track every two weeks
seeking a little competition, a
little conversation with fellow
ponymen and ',lots of good.
times. All members , of the
Blyth Pony. Trotting
Association the owners gather
with their families for pony
harness racing.
The onus of the racing is not
finance but good times. The
purses are small, the track is a
quarter mile with two tiny
bleacher sections for fans that
usually line the rail, the star-
ter's car is a'batrered old Ford
with the trunk lid removed'to
house the "'starter and 'the .
paddock area is the. line of
horse trailers the owners use to
get their ponies to the track.
But the good times are abun-
dant.
The evening begins around
6:30 when the competitors .
begin to pull into the track.
They unload the tiny sulkies,
take the ponies out of the
trailers and allow them to
limber up. And then they all
gather at somebody's trailer to
talk away an hour until the first
As posi time for the first race
draws nearer the drivers snake
their way back to their animals
. to give them a last minute
grooming and harness them up.
The loudspeaker blares out the
call to the track and four high
stepping ponies come out of the
paddock' area and make their
way to the rear of the old Ford.
"The starter has called' for
the horses;" the announcer
blares out. "He's bringing them
down the stretch and °they're
off.'•'
The old Ford bursts into
motion, a broken exhaust,
.system a tribute to its age, and
the drivers jockey for position
as if iley were competing for a
thousand dollar purse.
'Heading into the back
stretch ion the first lap it's' Paulie was going to do with his.
Daybreak over Ro#cie T by a. three dollar purse for his win.
length with Neimar right on her
cart, calls out the announcer:
Someone in the ,judges` booth Made passes
signals him t� turn off , the
him that Roxie T is the white
microphone and explains to. third IeVe'
horse and Neirnar the brown.
"Oh," he says turning on the ••
Mike, , `It's Daybreak over •co ac ring
Neimar..,,by , a length as they . ' .
head, into- the tun—, with Raxie T Rich-ard Madge, coach of the
in third spot.' ' ' Suncoast EstatesAtom • All -
NO .one in the stands Or Stars of the Goderich Minor
,paddock seems to notice the Hockey, Association, has
mistake as they catch the received- , word from the
action on tie track.. The only technical director of the
thing .they seem. to- rely on' the Ontario Hockey Association of
announcer for is the. •borne In his successful completion of the
which the, leader came across technical part of Level 3 of the
the first quarter: -, National Coaches Certification
The owners and drivers Program. '
standing on, the rail all mutter Mr'. Madge received an
advice to a driver, straining to average of 86 per cent on the
collect his -pony hack into a trot course, which he took under the
,. as the racers head , into_. the--- direction of Ron Watson, head
,.hockey coach at the University
of Western Ontario, He will be
completing the theory part' of
the Level three this fall and will
.then be certified at Level three
of .the Regional Level of the
stretch drive. four abreast, The
announcer struggles for• the
right . words to convey the. ex-
citement of the close finish as
the ponies thunder down the
stretch.to the wire.
In the announcer's booth
perched over the `finish line the
judge eonsGlts with his helpers,
each one holding a stopwatch td
time the 'four , poines, - and
prepares the official results.
"Ladies and gentlemen the
official results are,in," calls out
the announcer. "Nei mar owned
National Coaches 'Certification
Program.
JOIN THE CROWD �
7 5 PINGO
"economy plus" is its key feature,
Green. & Parent
Ford Mercury sales Limited
263 Huron Rd. Goderich' 524-6271
Running into Danger
More children • run into
dangerthan away from it,
Children should always be
taught to walk, not sup across
streets, ' even ' at pedestrian
crossings, says the Ontario
Safety League. Research has
shown that children using -
crosswalks
tend to feel that
they are invulnerable,b cause
they have been taughtk at this
is the safe way gi cross a street.
Unfortunately, even after
_stopping first, most children
run across the road; par-
„•tiicularly when they see a car
coming.
44
family steed in for the, best time of the night, beating his mother
and his father w4ho also drove the pony in a heat. (staff -photo)
Have a safe Labor Da,y weeken
•
Right now
mortgages
cost less
That home or cottage you hope to
own some day can be yours right. now!
The money you borrow at 'today's
lower rates \‘ ill enahle V ou to build or
z - y
renovate.no't' before material and
labour costs go higher. Do it today
,at Vi .toric and 'Grey!,
7lr� L1,11 ()wart() I r,ot (
lei ,!r/1 Ill I \ \)
VG
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