Professional hockey player Nick Ritchie and professional harness driver James MacDonald joined hosts Greg Blanchard and Mark McKelvie on the special Sunday (March 14) edition of COSA TV.
Ritchie, now in his second season with the Boston Bruins, grew up in Ontario with family roots in the harness racing industry. The now 25-year-old is the son of Paul Ritchie and the nephew of Jim Ritchie, the latter a longtime harness racing trainer and one-time driver. James MacDonald discussed early in the show how he and Nick built a friendship from the horse racing industry.
"We’d set up a golf game actually, Doug McNair and myself," MacDonald said. "And I remember we were kind of nervous because anybody who knows Doug and I—we’re both huge hockey fans. So to get a chance to play with a couple of people in the NHL, we were pretty excited. I remember when we were driving to Osprey [Valley] there, and the whole way up we were talking about it and were like ‘We don’t want to talk too much about hockey and bug them.’ We were like a couple of kids going up to play. And then we got there and the pair of them, they never shut up the whole round about horse racing. About the seventh hole, we were like ‘listen, we don’t want to talk about it anymore. Tell us about hockey.’"
"That’s usually how it goes," Ritchie added. "James was just mad he was losing so bad. That was it."
Despite his family's roots, Ritchie did not get involved with racing until around three or four years ago, he said, which was when his father began helping more with Jim's stable. Since then, the Ritchies now have around eight horses in training at First Line Training Center while Nick has continued to engross himself in the sport.
"If we’re not playing, I’ll watch the races at Mohawk," Ritchie said. "Kind of a dry time there when the pandemic was in full force and there were no races on—there was not much to watch at nighttime. And I like watching James and the other guys battle it out on the track. Just knowing them and knowing the horses now and knowing a lot of the people in the sport, its fun to watch and place the odd bet here and there."
"He’s definitely got the bug," MacDonald said. "There’s the two- and three-year-olds coming up from the states and he says ‘Wait until you see this horse!’ He knows everything about it—he’s watched all the races, the replays. He’s being pretty modest. He doesn’t miss too much when it comes to racing. He probably knows more than Jody, Doug and I all put together when it comes to the horses in the states and the big stakes races. He’s definitely playing it lowkey for sure."
On occasions, as Ritchie got to know the horseperson community better in Ontario, the Left Wing got to play with the horsemen's hockey leagues and even in the horsemen's tournament, in the latter of which he coached a team to victory.
"I do have a funny story," MacDonald said. "They were having a little bit of a contract dispute, so [Nick] didn’t make the first couple of games. He wasn’t playing, so our men’s league team had just started going and I said ‘You might as well come out with the boys and we’ll play.’ I ended up picking a couple of drives up that night at Grand River, so I couldn’t go. So I said ‘Make sure you put Nick down as 23. He can be James MacDonald tonight.’ So he went out and played with James and the Jets at the time. Curtis said he just floated around and netted three goals and three assists, just scoring at will. A couple of people on the other team came up to me the next week and said ‘What was up with you last week? You looked a little flat.’ And I said ‘Yeah, I had a fill in for me. I usually bang a little harder than that.’"
"I remember that," Ritchie said. "I think I was playing with Dougie on a line, and even got him a goal. So it was a pretty good night actually—set him up for a goal one time and he blew one by. He was pretty excited."
The Sunday episode of COSA TV also came just three days after James MacDonald had been involved in a racing incident at Woodbine Mohawk Park, which unseated him from his bike and left him in the hospital for the night with minor bruising of the lung. The spry MacDonald, back in the bike the following night, also talked on COSA TV about some of his prospects for 2021.
"Obviously I absolutely love the little mare I drove last night, So Much More," MacDonald said. "Just a class act. She was an O’Brien winner last year. She had to tackle the boys in three starts this year. She’s been second, second, and then last night I kind of put her in a tough spot. But she got home like she always does; kicked home real good. She didn’t get any money, but I’m hoping she can get back in with the girls and start doing some real damage this year. She’s just an absolute Cadillac to drive. Obviously she’s a thrill to sit behind.
"There was a two-year-old trotting filly that I won the Super Final with—Dashing Muscles," MacDonald also said. "She kind of had a weird year. She was real good and then there was a big break—she wasn’t paid into any of the major stakes. Then she came back, and it took her a couple of starts to get back good. Then she got real good for the last Gold and ended up winning the Super Final. If she gets on a nice schedule, she could be a fun three-year-old trotting filly to drive. Aside from that, [we’ll] see what we pick up and hopefully we can get in the winner’s circle as much as possible. Every race would be great, but it’s just not feasible."
All through the show Ritchie also talks about highlights from his career in the NHL, and MacDonald talks at the end of the broadcast about bucket list items for his driving career.
The COSA TV episode is available in its entirety below: