Three-time O'Brien Award winner James MacDonald continued to make headlines in Canadian harness racing in 2024, and this past week was no exception.

A front-runner for the Keith Waples Driver of the Year Award again this year, MacDonald cleared $12 million in seasonal purses this past week with a win aboard Double Down Duke on Dec. 9 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. That feat makes him the first Canadian-based driver to achieve more than $12 million in purses in a single season. The previous record was held by Chris Christoforou, who banked $11,984,468 during his O'Brien Award-winning season in 2003.

Of note, Christoforou banked the bulk of his earnings — $11,539,515, to be exact — on Canadian soil that season, and that number is still the highest purse total for a driver on Canadian soil in a given year.

MacDonald stands at $8,883,444 in earnings this season with $3.2 million banked stateside as part of his seasonal haul.  

In addition to the hardware he could collect north of the border, MacDonald was also revealed as a two-time finalist in voting for the 2024 Dan Patch Awards. The 38-year-old from Guelph, Ont. is a finalist along with Dexter Dunn for Driver of the Year, and one of three finalists for the W.R. Haughton Good Guy Award, awarded by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) for cooperation with the communications arm of harness racing. Winners of these awards will be announced by USHWA on Dec. 26 and 27.

The finalists for the 2024 O'Brien Awards will be announced on Friday, Dec. 20.

(Standardbred Canada)