A recent vacation in Costa Rica proved to be made even more special when trainer Paige Austin got the news that both her star pupil, Hasty Bid, and his regular pilot who just so happens to be Austin’s fiancé, James MacDonald, were nominated for 2023 O’Brien Awards.

“I got the call first on Hasty Bid and I started bawling. It was so exciting,” recalled Austin. “Then not too long after James got the call, so that was really special, it’s an honour just to be nominated for something like this.”

However, before making his way to the Austin barn and becoming an O’Brien Award finalist in the three-year-old colt trot division, it was another MacDonald — James' brother, Anthony — who initially picked out Hasty Bid at the 2021 Harrisburg sale for the $35,000 price tag. 

“We had a few picked out at Harrisburg that went out of our price range,” said Austin. “Then Anthony called us and said he purchased a My MVP he wanted us to look at. We were a little hesitant until we laid eyes on him, and fortunately, we took him from there.”

While Austin was hoping initially to find perhaps just a nice Grassroots level trotter when beginning the yearling search, the gelding out of the Garland Lobell mare, Sunshinenlollopops, wasn’t necessarily that when training down for Austin.

“He honestly didn’t train down all that well at two,” Austin told Trot Insider. “He paced a lot, he made a lot of mistakes like two-year-olds do, and he just kind of did his job without ever being very flashy. Once we got him to Mohawk and got him qualified though, he was all business from there.”

After finishing runner-up in his career debut at Clinton Raceway in a Grassroots division, Hasty Bid hastily broke his maiden with the first of two wins in his two-year-old campaign, a 1:58.2 victory in a Grassroots division at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The gelding rapidly improved from there, eventually moving on to challenge some of the best rookie trotters in the sport with a fourth-place finish in the Mohawk Million in a campaign that saw Hasty Bid earn $152,821 and hit the board in five of eight outings. The highlight of Hasty Bid’s 2022 season came on a day that gave Austin plenty of reasons to celebrate, winning the $50,000 William Wellwood Memorial consolation on Aug. 27.

“That was a great day; it was my birthday, I got engaged, and he won, so it was a great day,” Austin laughed. “We thought maybe he could get a piece in there, but we weren’t expecting him to win. Then when he started to make the transition from two to three we started to get excited about what kind of year he could possibly have.”

In that three-year-old campaign, Hasty Bid has proven to be as consistent as they come. While visiting the winner’s circle twice in 2023, Hasty Bid hit the board in nine of 13 tries, only finishing out of the money once on the season which saw him vault his career bankroll beyond the half-million dollar mark, earning $372,590 in 2023.

“His level of consistency is what I’m most proud of,” Austin gleamed. “That’s not something I think we can take credit for, that’s all him. He wants to do it, he just puts his head down and gets to work every time out there.”

While his two seasonal victories each came in Ontario Sires Stakes Gold divisions, including a 1:52.3 lifetime-best effort on a Mohawk surface listed as “good,” on July 8, Hasty Bid proved his toughness against the best in North America. Hasty Bid would turn in a fourth-place effort in the Goodtimes final in June, before hitting the board at 36-1 with a third-place effort behind Celebrity Bambino in the Canadian Trotting Classic. 

“It’s really hard to pick just one moment that stands out from this year with him,” said Austin. “The Gold wins are special, especially the first one being my first Gold win, but we were elated with how he raced in the Canadian Trotting Classic, that was one of his best races all year.”

Efforts like these gave Austin the confidence to ship Hasty Bid to Harrah’s Hoosier Park for the Breeders Crown elimination in October. And while a fourth-place finish led to Hasty Bid being one of the first on the outside looking in for the final, the experience is one Austin would not take for granted.

“That’s one of those moments where you’re just trying to soak up every minute,” said Austin. “You’re looking up and down the aisle at trainers like Nancy Takter and Marcus Melander, you know moments like this won’t last forever, and even though he didn’t make the final, it was a great moment.”

After some well earned time off this winter, Hasty Bid has returned to training for a four-year-old campaign that Austin has mapped similar to the gelding’s previous two campaigns.

“We started jogging him on New Year’s Eve, so he’s just getting back to work now,” explained Austin. “We paid him into races like the Canadian Graduate, and then a few Grand Circuit races like the Maple Leaf Trot and Breeders Crown this year.”

As Austin makes her way to P.E.I. for the O’Brien Awards looking for her first honour with her first racehorse, husband-to-be James MacDonald joins her looking for his third consecutive title in the Driver of the Year category. MacDonald enters the O’Briens off a career year in 2023, cracking the $10 million mark for the first time in earnings as a driver, giving the driver plenty to be happy about. According to Austin, that really wouldn't be much of a problem otherwise.

“Everything is pretty easy with James,” Austin noted. “It’s not hard being with someone who is always in a good mood, happy to go to work every day and have our horse. I think that’s what helps him be so consistent: he’s very level all the time and can take a bad night well and be ready to move on to the next day.”

The level-headedness is exactly what Austin thinks makes MacDonald such a great fit for Hasty Bid.

“James never panics and his patience goes a long way with him,” said Austin. “Hasty Bid can gap on the far turn a bit and put himself in a bad spot every now and then, but James knows the horse and knows he’ll give you everything he has when he turns for home, you just have to get him there.”

Being a first-time nominee with Hasty Bid and heading to MacDonald’s fry-guy stomping grounds on Canada's east coast shapes up for an O’Brien Awards ceremony that Paige Austin anxiously awaits.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Austin. “Being in Charlottetown where James grew up, it will have even more of a family vibe there that will be great. And it’s just even that much more special being a finalist this year.”

The winners will be announced on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024 at the O’Brien Awards Gala, which will take place at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Prince Edward in Charlottetown, P.E.I. For O’Brien Awards Black Tie Gala inquiries and ticket reservations, please contact Jade Regina at [email protected].

(Standardbred Canada; images courtesy New Image Media)