Driver Anthony MacDonald reached the 2,000 win milestone when he guided veteran trotter Harlequin to victory in the ninth race at Georgian Downs on Saturday night
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MacDonald started the day needing five wins to reach the milestone and split his time between Flamboro and Georgian Downs to get the job done. He earned a pair of victories at Flamboro aboard the Craig Brewer-trained Mc Hottie ($12.20) in the eighth race and The Jay Rock ($4.10) in the 12th and final race for William Reda before kicking off the Georgian card with a victory aboard the Louie Eftimiadis-conditioned Waco Shark ($3.50). MacDonald then scored another win aboard Barrie Ford Summit Series Gold winner Spurofthehaur ($3.50) in the fifth race for Rene Allard before recording win No. 2,000 with Harlequin ($5.70) in the ninth race for Geoff Maltby.
MacDonald and Harlequin cleared the lead after the opening quarter and cruised to the two and a quarter length victory over the sloppy track rated two seconds slow in 1:58.2, with slight favourite Think Gold and Bob McClure finishing second. The 10-year-old of Balanced Image is owned by C A Burns Limited of Toronto, Ont.
MacDonald is currently in the midst of a career year having won 470 races while banking over $3 million in earnings. Lifetime, the resident of Guelph, Ont. has earned over $16.1 million.
In other action at Georgian Downs, the Innisfil Claiming Series continued on Saturday night with Captain J T pulling off a repeat victory in his $12,000 second leg division. The series is for trotters that are non-winners of $60,000 lifetime as of Nov. 12, 2011 racing for a claiming price of $15,000.
Fresh off a win in last weekend's first round of the series, even-money favourite Captain J T and driver Jason Brewer sat fourth for most of the mile before tipping out onto the back of Mischievous Grin (Keith Jones). He then rallied home to wear down pacesetter Right Back At You (J.R. Plante) for the 1:59 victory, prevailing by three-quarters of a length. Pocket-sitter Bank Statement (James MacDonald) finished third.
Brewer shared ownership of the five-year-old Mutineer gelding with trainer Jean Bernard Renaud before he was claimed tonight by Antonio Tangreda of Kettleby, Ont. The win was the trotter's second in a row and fifth of the season in 24 starts.
The other division was won by driver Robert Shepherd and Valle National, who sat seventh for most of the mile before moving into the third over spot and sprinting home for the narrow victory in 2:00 flat. The four-year-old Donerail gelding, favourite Quantum Incredible (Scott Coulter), pacesetter Tsunami Dream (Paul MacKenzie), pocket-sitter Kenny B (James MacDonald) and Leonidas De Vie (Mark Etsell) were separated by one length at the wire.
The win was Valle National's fifth of the year in 28 starts. Trainer Terry McKibbin shares ownership of the trotter with Joshua McKibbin of Tillsonburg, Ont.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Georgian Downs.