Standardbred Canada (SC) is excited to announce that the field of drivers to compete in the 2026 Ontario Regional Driving Championship (ORDC), which is set to take place on Tuesday, May 5 at The Raceway at Western Fair District in London, Ont., has been confirmed.
The Ontario Regional Driving Championship will kick off the 2026 "Road to the Nationals" as the first of four regional events, with the Western, Quebec-Eastern Ontario and Atlantic regions to follow. To see the dates of each regional event, click here. The top two points earners in each regional event will advance to the National Driving Championship (NDC) at Clinton Raceway in Clinton, Ont., on Sunday, July 26.
This is the seventh time The Raceway at Western Fair District will host the Ontario Regional Driving Championship; The Raceway also hosted the National Driving Championship in 2016.
Greg Blanchard, Director of Equine Programming at The Raceway, expressed his team’s excitement to have the competition in London once again.
“Our team is proud to once again host the Ontario Regional Driving Championship," said Blanchard. "An incredible lineup has been assembled and this promises to be one of the best days of racing you will see on a half-mile track anywhere in North America this season. We can’t wait.”
Photo of the 2024 Ontario Regional Driving Championship winners presentation at The Raceway. Left to right: Standardbred Canada President & CEO Darryl Kaplan, Standardbred Canada Director & current Chair Mark Horner, James MacDonald, Tyler Borth, Standardbred Canada Director Bill O'Donnell and Western Fair's Director of Equine Programming Greg Blanchard.
The field of nine drivers features previous NDC winners Jody Jamieson (2011, 2014) and Doug McNair (2018, 2020), 2024 ORDC champion Tyler Borth and Canada’s winningest driver in 2025, Austin Sorrie. James MacDonald, winner of the 2025 World Driving Championship, receives an automatic bye into the 2027 World Driving Championship and will not compete in either the ORDC or NDC.
The nine drivers will participate in nine competition races. Each race will have eight drivers competing, with one driver sitting out in each race. Drivers will receive points based on their finishing position. The first and second-place finishers from the nine-race competition will advance to the 2026 National Driving Championship. The winner of the 2026 National Driving Championship will be invited to represent Canada at the 2027 World Driving Championship, to be hosted by Standardbred Canada.
Invitations were extended to drivers based on racing statistics from the 2025 season and the first two months of 2026, along with their availability to compete in both the National Driving Championship and the 2027 World Driving Championship, and their ability to be a positive Canadian representative on an international stage.
The 2026 Ontario Regional Driving Championship competitors are:
- Tyler Borth
- Samuel Fillion
- Jody Jamieson
- Bob McClure
- Doug McNair
- Garrett Rooney
- Louis-Philippe Roy
- Austin Sorrie
- Daryl Thiessen
(Standardbred Canada Press Release)