When Amy & Anthony MacDonald began breaking and training their 39 babies in November 2016, the ambition of a hectic summer lay before them. Thirty-two of those youngsters have now made the races and those dreams of continental travel are very much a reality.
Over a 48-hour period that came to a close Tuesday evening, the fledgling operation called on racetracks in no fewer than two countries and four jurisdictions: Pennsylvania (Mohegan Sun Pocono), New York (Tioga Downs), Ontario (Mohawk Racetrack and Georgian Downs), and Ohio (Scioto Downs).
"We knew we had some nice youngsters and we were eager to show off the hard work we had put into them," said Anthony.
The stakes action at Pocono yielded a second and a fifth and an offer to purchase the two trotters for a princely sum.
"Our ownership groups were quick to extinguish any sale talk, and I really had no reason to push for one. These two trotters looked phenomenal and the profit would be nice, but we have said time and time again we will continue to show this industry that simple monetary ROI isn't all that horse ownership is about,” said MacDonald. “The entertainment of horse ownership carries alot of worth, and when this ownership is spread over such a vast number of shares, it would take a serious offer to sway some of these clients, and I don't blame them.”
The next stakes stop was Tioga Downs where first-time trotter Cruising In Style romped over New York’s finest in 1:56. In Ohio, Real Willey paced his own last three quarters in 1:24 en route to a fifth-place finish at Scioto Downs in the track-record-equaling opening leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes. Mckinnon and Redwood Again both finished second in their respective decisions in 1:55.
Back home in Ontario, thestable.ca netted a second at Georgian and a fourth at Mohawk.
(with files from TheStable.ca)