After more than five months on the sidelines, driver Mark MacDonald is set to return to the racetrack.

A winner of multiple O'Brien Awards, MacDonald sustained injuries in an accident at Yonkers Raceway on Oct. 24, 2024. In that spill, MacDonald suffered a deflated lung, fractured ribs, fractured vertebrae in his back and a small fracture in his tibia.

In a discussion with Trot Insider last November, MacDonald had suggested a return to racing on Canadian soil was a possibility upon his return to action. On Monday, April 14, he'll get behind a pair of Larry Stalbaum trainees in New York at Yonkers Raceway.

"I'm feeling pretty good," said MacDonald on Saturday. "Larry asked me to go with his two the last few legs of the Borgata, and I'm just going to go from there."

MacDonald's Monday mounts include 2024 Sam McKee Memorial winner Rocknroll Runa A (PP4, 20-1) in the first $50,000 USD Borgata division, carded as the third race, and Blazing Home N (PP2, 15-1) in Monday's third division four dashes later.

A winner of 6,710 races in his career and more than $114 million in purses, MacDonald then has two assignments on Tuesday, April 15 at Yonkers for trainer Ray Schnittker. His long-term plans for the summer stakes season have yet to be determined.

"I still haven't made a decision yet on what I'm doing this spring and summer," noted MacDonald. "I just wanted to drive a few and see how I felt. Hopefully some opportunities will come my way."

(Standardbred Canada)