from Western Fair Raceway

London, ON — The following are some interesting facts and figures surrounding the Molson Pace, Western Fair Raceway’s signature event, which kicks off with three C$20,000 eliminations Friday night with a record 22 starters.

1972 ~ The first year of the race, sponsored at that time by Labatt’s, switched to Molson in 1991.

C$16,440,397 ~ Combined earnings of Friday night’s 22 starters for an average of C$747,290 earnings per starter.

$2,197,776 ~ Earnings of Won The West, the richest starter in Friday night’s eliminations.

6 ~ The number of millionaire performers in Friday night’s eliminations with four — Blueridge Western, Won The West, Bigtime Ball and Mr Wiggles all in the second elimination, race nine.

3 ~ Number of performers sired by Camluck (Legal Litigator, Lucky Man and Wholly Louy) and The Panderosa (Pangiorno, Chasin Racin and Panmunjom). Real Artist, Cam’s Card Shark and Western Hanover all have two starters in the fields.

1 ~ Previous winner with a performer in Friday night’s eliminations. 2004 winner Four Starzzz Shark is the sire of River Shark who has post seven in the third elimination.

5 ~ The most times the race has been won by one driver — Dave Wall with Rock N Wave (1979), Monkey Wrench (1984), Staff Director (1985), Jagger Hanover (1990) and Such Sparkle (1994). Doug Brown is next with four champions.

1998 ~ Year of first and only triple dead heat in the event with Emery Flight (Keith Waples), Any Excuse (Dan Morrissey) and What A Beach (Mario Baillargeon).

1:50.4 ~ Western Fair track record set by Tigerama in the 2008 Molson Pace elimination.

Program pages for Friday night’s card, which begins at 7:05 p.m., may be read by clicking here.