It has been reported that two-time O’Brien Award-winning reinsman Mark MacDonald is recovering after having been hurt on the racetrack this past weekend.
According to harnessracing.com, MacDonald sustained a fracture to a shoulder joint last Saturday (July 20) at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
MacDonald, a winner of 6,220 career races, was on the track with two-year-old So Surreal colt Splash Brother prior to a New York Sire Stakes race at the half-mile oval. The report states that MacDonald was unseated, and, in addition to the shoulder injury, also sustained whiplash and a hematoma to his right hip.
MacDonald had won 55 of his 622 drives this year prior to the Saturday accident. The Maritime native is also nearing a major personal milestone, as the resident of Goshen, New York has steered his drives to $99.01-million in purse earnings over the course of his career.
The harnessracing.com item also includes concerning news about another reinsman, John ‘Duke’ Sugg.
On Monday (July 22) at a fair in Tiffin, Ohio, Sugg was injured in a race and had to be ‘life-flighted’ to Toledo Hospital. His wife, Lisa, has announced via social media that Duke, 48, has been sedated after having suffered a fractured wrist, small contusions, and bleeding on his brain.
Please join Standardbred Canada in wishing both Mark MacDonald and Duke Sugg a quick and complete recovery from their injuries.
(With files from harnessracing.com)