MacDonald Reaches 2,000-Win Milestone

John MacDonald, Rideau Carleton Raceway’s leading driver of 2010, celebrated his 2,000th career victory after winning the ninth race with Fooled Ya

on a foggy Saturday night at the Ottawa oval.

After extending Its A Good Thing’s win streak to four in the opener for trainer Brenda Spence and winning the eighth race with veteran trotter Abundaspin for trainer James Marchment, MacDonald sent his own pacer, Fooled Ya, to the lead in the next race from Post 4 and never looked back en route to scoring the milestone victory in 1:57.3.

MacDonald later scored with the Andre Larocque-trained Onyx V A in Race 14 to get started on his next thousand.

Coming off a career year in 2009, MacDonald won 328 races and earned $1.8 million in purses last season. The 28-year-old resident of Russell, Ont. has earned over $10.1 million lifetime.

In other action, driver Gord Brown, also a four-time winner on the night, engineered the winning trip in the featured $14,000 Preferred Pace aboard Stonebridge Magnum for trainer Chance Stewart and owner Yves Sarrazin of La Presentation, Que. The six-year-old chestnut son of The Panderosa-Glacier Express took control after the :26.4 opening quarter ahead of Tyber King (Darrell Colville) and led the field past remaining panels of :56 and 1:25.1 before stopping the clock in 1:55.2. Peenie (Denis St. Pierre) rallied from the backfield to finish two and a quarter lengths behind while Strand Hanover (Jacques Beaudoin) rounded out the top three.

The victory was Stonebridge Magnum’s second in a row and 22nd of his career bumping his bankroll to $186,360. Last season, he put together a record reading 10-2-2 in 21 starts to earn $68,975.

Stonebridge Magnum paid $5.20 to win as the 8-5 favourite.

To view Saturday's results, click here.