Milestone For MacMillan

When Coast Highway went wire-to-wire in 1:55.4 to win his $8,500 claiming assignment last Thursday, May 20 at Rideau Carleton Raceway, the eight-year-old Western Hanover gelding helped trainer John MacMillan reach a

major career milestone. The victory was MacMillan’s 1,000th.

“It was a lot of hard work and sacrifice, and having good owners and good drivers," said MacMillan on reaching the milestone.

The harness racing jack-of-all-trades began working with horses in the mid-1980's at Kingston Park with the late Ted Huntbach. After earning his Masters in Business Administration at Queen’s University, MacMillan served as the announcer, race secretary and general manager at Rideau Carleton Raceway before he began training full-time in 2000.

“It was just time for me to make a change,” explained MacMillan. “I had worked at Rideau Carleton for about 12 years and wanted to give training a try.”

After three years at Rideau and another three racing in Toronto, MacMillan returned to his current home in Spencerville, ON where he currently trains a stable of 25.

The 39-year-old has been a top conditioner at Rideau for the past five years, earning the most wins at the Ottawa oval for the third consecutive time in 2009.

With 1,001 wins and over $6.1 million in purse earnings to his credit, MacMillan easily recalls a few special moments in his training career including victories by the Ontario-sired pacing filly Serenity Seelster and trotter Stiletto, who provided him with his first driving win on the WEG circuit back in 2003.

“I feel lucky that I was around people that taught me what I needed to know to win races,” said MacMillan, noting Ken Backer as one of his biggest mentors in recent years. “He’s someone I still turn to when I have trouble with a horse. He’s a great all-around horseman and he’s taught me a lot about racing and looking after horses.”