Canada's leading driver has already set a new personal best for earnings in 2024. Can James MacDonald also break his own personal seasonal dash record?
If he drives on every card at Woodbine Mohawk Park from now until the end of the year, the three-time O'Brien Award winner has 23 more cards to make that happen.
Granted, there's a good chance he'll be at The Meadowlands on Saturday, Nov. 30 for the Fall Final Four and FanDuel Championships. But at the end of the day, MacDonald will still be in action.
On Thursday at Mohawk, MacDonald picked up two wins to lift his seasonal total to 401 tallies. Victory number 400 came in the seventh race as he guided Hudson Standardbred Stable homebred Wicked Dancer to a maiden-breaking 1:56.3 score. Shawn Steacy trains the two-year-old son of McWicked - Dancin Inthe Nude for Hudson Standardbred Stable and co-owner William Hunter of Wasaga Beach, Ont.
MacDonald's previous high for seasonal wins came in 2022 when he posted 451, with 450 of those on Canadian soil. With a personal best $11,663,350 in earnings in 2024, MacDonald totes 3,911 victories and $75.5 million in career purses.
Wicked Dancer was one of just two favourites — the other being eighth race winner Heresthatmanagain — to find their way to the winner's circle on Thursday at Mohawk. The percentage of winning favourites at Mohawk is nearly 45 percent this year heading into Thursday's card.
To view the full results from Thursday's card of harness racing outside Campbellville, click the following link: Thursday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)