In less than a week, James MacDonald will travel to Alberta to compete in the opening leg of the 2017 World Driving Championship.
The winner of the Ontario Regional Driving Championship and runner up in the 2016 National event will be competing against 10 of the finest harness racing drivers in the world! If you would like to show your support, we’ve got two ways you can do this before MacDonald heads west.
If you’re heading to Mohawk Racetrack on Saturday night or Grand River Raceway’s Industry Day on Monday, Standardbred Canada will have a Good Luck banner for racing fans to sign. The banner will be presented to James after Race 8 on Industry Day by Dan Gall, President and CEO of Standardbred Canada.
For anyone who isn’t going to Mohawk or Grand River, you can still show your support by sending your good luck messages to James by posting a comment below.
The WDC competition takes place at five different racetracks in four provinces. Drivers earn points based on their finishing position and the top point earner at the end of the 22 races will be declared the 2017 World Driving Champion and win $25,000 in prize money.
Here is the complete schedule:
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Sat. Aug 12 – Century Downs Racetrack and Casino
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Mon. Aug. 14 – Mohawk Racetrack
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Tues. Aug. 15- Georgian Downs
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Wed. Aug. 16 – Hippodrome 3R
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Fri. Aug. 18 – Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at CDP
This event, along with the 25th anniversary edition of the World Trotting Conference, hosted in Charlottetown, PEI, are both held every two years and coincides with the 250th Anniversary of horse racing in Canada, and Canada 150 celebrations.
Canadians have won the World Driving Championship on four occasions. Hervé Filion won the inaugural edition in 1970, his nephew Sylvain Filion won in 1999 and Jody Jamieson won the 2001 and 2011 editions of the WDC. A Canadian driver has yet to win at home.
Trot Insider will be providing daily coverage of the WDC, including video, photos and reports.