Bono Hest earned himself an early 10th birthday present, when he won a battle of the veterans in the Lorraine and Fergus Mathieson Memorial Trot.
Fergus Mathieson was a long-serving Forbury Park official, who previously shared his Smaills Beach stable with Hanson.
"We were over 20 years training at Fergus' place when he was training at Smails Beach," Hanson said.
"We did a lot of work there with the track, Kenny Campbell and I along with Fergus."
Having members of the Mathieson family at Forbury Park to celebrate Bono Hest's win made the victory very special, Hanson said.
"We had a drink together and everyone got a big kick out of it.
"We used to go up Central Otago together - the families were very close.
"It was a real pleasure to win the race."
Bono Hest scored his first win of the season just days before he is due to turn 10.
The 9yr-old prevailed in an exciting finish to deny another veteran, rising 12yr-old Anothersuperstar, her first win since November of 2015.
The ageing pair showed their younger rivals they still had plenty of life in them when they broke away from the pack at the 400m.
Bono Hest peeled off the back of the leading Anothersuperstar in the home straight to win a length and a-half.
The quinella makers put six and a-half lengths on third placed That's The Story.
Bono Hest's win took John Morrison to 99 career wins as a driver.
The squaregaiter's victory came on memorial night at Forbury Park, where Lorraine and Fergus Mathieson were among past administrators and contributors honoured by the club.
Among them was Hanson's late wife, Pat.
Hanson was out to win the Pat Hanson and Lance Joy Memorial Trot, but his runner, Dem Bones Dem Bones, wrote off her chances with an early gallop.
"It was a shame because she had been working well, but she galloped right when she went past the gate she usually goes off the track through," Hanson said.
Favourite Clyde claimed the event in another good result in a maiden trot at Forbury Park for trainer Donna Williamson.
The Levels trainer also produced Majicion to run third in the maiden event.
That result came just five weeks after Williamson scored her first race quinella with Muscle Pat and Majicion.
The trainer has kept up her good form in between times by producing The Dominator to win at Addington recently.
Race 5 on the Forbury Park card should provide one of the best form references to come out of the meeting.
My Design capitalised on an economical run in the trail to nose out Leap Of Faith.
Both horses look to have brighter futures than many of their counterparts who raced at last night's meeting.
My Design, who was having just her second start after debuting at Ashburton last weekend, sprinted quickly along the passing lane to win.
The Mark Jones-trained filly ran home in a respectable 28sec.
Leap Of Faith impressed with his tough second placing in his first career start.
The Steven McRae-trained 3yr-old got back in the field early after being inconvenienced at the start.
She was only nabbed late after looping the field and doing a power of work when sitting outside the leader.
The last race of the Forbury Park racing season was appropriately won by driver Blair Orange, who had dominated the driving ranks at the track this season.
Orange scored a front-running win with the Tony Stratford trained The Red Robber.
Racing will resume at Forbury Park early next season on August 4.
