After having spent more than five decades in the sport of harness racing, horseman Dave Ratchford was honoured this past Saturday (June 8) in Sydney when he was inducted into the Cape Breton Sports Hall of Fame.

As an article by the Cape Breton Post explains, Ratchford, 71, was inducted into the hall along with Theresa MacCuish (basketball), Laurence Streete (rugby and football), Harvey Ellsworth Jr. (golf), Wayne Muir (hockey) and the 1975 Glace Bay Mark Ten All-Stars (baseball).

The Cape Breton Post ran a profile piece on Ratchford a few weeks ago which highlighted some of the horseman’s major accomplishments over the years.

“I was pretty well always at the track when I was kid. I started jogging horses when I was 13 or 14,” Ratchford, who is a resident of North Sydney, was quoted as saying. “When I was in school, I purchased my first horse in 1960 and it went from there.”

Ratchford went on to say that his induction was “quite an honour” for his wife, his family and himself.

(With files from the Cape Breton Post)