Consistently finishing within the top four all day long, James MacDonald accumulated an insurmountable lead in the point standings with one race still to go in the 44th annual Charity Driver's Challenge contested during Clinton Raceway's season finale on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 1.
MacDonald clinched the Charity Driver's Challenge title with his second winner in the penultimate dash of the eight-race competition, driving the Peter Brickman-trained trotter Lucky Rascal ($15.40) to a 2:01.2 pocket-popping score over favoured Toscano Girl and J Harris.
MacDonald's first win of the driver's challenge came in race three with trainer Mike Horner's pacer Fiscal Policy ($4.50) in 1:59.2 following back-to-back runner-up finishes in the opening legs behind winning horses driven by defending champion Tyler Borth and Garrett Rooney.
After a slow start, Travis Cullen racked up major points with three wins in rein to Rising Dragon ($3.10), Dalhousie ($3.50) and Little T ($5.10) to finish second in the driver's challenge ahead of Travis Henry, who drove the tournament's biggest upset winner, Mr Cheeseman ($42.80). Rooney finished fourth followed by Harris and Borth, with a tie between Todd Ratchford and Samuel Fillion to round out the standings.
Left to right: Garrett Rooney, Travis Cullen, Travis Henry, James MacDonald, Samuel Fillion, Todd Ratchford, Tyler Borth and J Harris.
MacDonald, who is the reigning National Driving Champion and three-time O'Brien Award-winning Driver of the Year, was a winner of the Charity Driver's Challenge in 2014. He added another feather in his cap, finishing no worse than fourth throughout the eight challenge races to top the leaderboard with 79 points.
But the big winner was the Royal Canadian Legion with the participating drivers donating their earnings from the challenge to the Clinton, Seaforth and Exeter branches. Funds were also raised from a 50/50 draw, silent auction and chicken BBQ. More than $10,000 was raised for the local branches.
MacDonald later returned to the winner's circle during the fourth leg of the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots Series for two-year-old filly pacers with division leader Tricky Wicky. The homebred McWicked-Dobre Povendane filly remained undefeated in Grassroots competition with a 2:01.1 victory in her $20,000 division for trainer Rene Dion and owners David and John Prushnok.
Cullen also picked up a Grassroots win in rein to the maiden-breaking miss Chillinonthebeach (Sunshine Beach-Hat Trick Honey) in the fastest division, stopping the clock in 1:59.2, for trainer Scott McEneny and owner Brad Grant.
The Charity Driver's Challenge participants swept the Grassroots leg with Fillion guiding the Murray Brethour-trained McSweetie (McWicked-Bay Girl) to a 1:59.4 score for owner Hutt Racing Stable to close out the meet.
Clinton Raceway participated in Standardbred Canada's National Caretaker Appreciation Day on Sunday and the action-packed afternoon concluded with a performance from the RCMP Musical Ride, hosted by REACH and the Bayfield Agricultural Society.
While racing luck was not on Todd Ratchford's side for the Charity Driver's Challenge, the 28-year-old reinsman topped the 2024 driver standings for Clinton's 15-week meet with 23 trips to victory lane. Travis Henry finished just one win behind and J Harris rounded out the top three with 18 victories.
Patrick Bissett, topped the trainer standings with 14 winners from his stable after sharing top honours last season. It was a close contest for second with Kris Haskell (eight) one-upping Lorne House (seven).
The 2025 harness racing season is scheduled to resume next May with a new 400-person capacity grandstand and enlarged patio space as renovations get underway this fall.
A replay of the live stream from Clinton Raceway featuring the Charity Driver's Challenge in races one through eight is available below.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Clinton Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)