Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing

Driver of the Month
for January 2006

Mark MacDonald

Born December 9, 1978
Charlottown, Prince Edward Island

Young Mark MacDonald was the third leading driver in North American in 2005, behind Cat Manzi and Tony Morgan, certainly an elite group into which to be included. Carrying blue, gold and white colors, the young reinsman was the leading driver in Canada in 2005 in both wins and purse earnings.

MacDonald comes from a family involved in harness racing, as his two brothers, Anthony and Curtis are both in the industry--the first as a driver and the second as a director of Grand River Raceway. His father is also active as a breeder in his native PEI, Canada.

Mark MacDonald

Mark MacDonald piloting American Ideal at Deleware in 2005

Mark began his career with his father, visiting the Charlottetown Racetrack on Saturdays with his dad. Eventually, at age 14 he got his own horse and began working with him after school each day. At age 17 Mark decided to leave his roots and travel westward--landing a job with Mike MacDonald (no relation) at Windsor Raceway as a caretaker. He received his trainers license at age 18 and eventually went out on his own on the Ontario circuit with a modest stable of six horses. His first year of driving (1997) saw him steer eight winners from 72 starters, earning a modest $15,834. The following year he won 105 races from 797 starts and pushed his earnings to a respectable $417,851.

"What really helped me initially was that I had my own small stable. I was able to make some money and prove myself as a trainer and a driver."

MacDonald's career began to take off and he began to pick up catch drives on the Ontario circuit in 1999, driving horses for trainers such as Craig Hope, Casie Coleman and Bob McIntosh. That year he won 239 starts and $1.3 million in purse earnings.

"I never really had the opportunity to drive really top horses until I got to drive for Bob," MacDonald noted. "I got to drive a lot of quality stock--expensive babies and quality horses like Intrepid Seelster and others."

What really helped me initially was that I had my own small stable. I was able to make some money and prove myself as a trainer and a driver

In 2000 Mark steered 227 winners to the tune of $1.3 million and had similar stats in 2001. He upped those figures to 379 wins and $1.4 million in earnings by 2002, and the trend didn't diminish as he went on to post 477 victories in 2003 with $2.4 million in earnings.

When Mark made the decision to try the WEG circuit full-time, he quickly jumped from driving only his own horses, to driving in nearly every race. But he was forced to take several months off after a bad accident nearly ended his career. A bad spill saw MacDonald break nearly every bone in his face. Despite the accident, he wrapped up 2004 with 499 wins and $3.7 million in purses earned from the horses he drove.

"I had to take a few months off. It was a really bad accident that took three plates and nine screws to put my jaw back together normally," Mark recalled. "I had stitches all over my face and even in my tongue. A lot of my teeth were knocked out too. I was lucky, however, that I bounced back pretty quickly from that."

MacDonald wasn't really know to many American trainers until he was teamed with trainer Coleman's American Ideal in the fall of 2005. He ended up steering American Ideal to a world record clocking of 1:47.4 at The Red Mile in Lexington in September 2005.

"American Ideal is a very nice horse to drive," Mark said. "He has really high speed and you can race him anyway you want to. He's a really great horse and very versatile."

Mark says that staying focused on his job and having a good personality are the keys to doing well as a catch driver.

"You have to stay focused and you have to be personable and nice to everyone," Mark noted. "I play it day by day in this business and just hope that my luck continues and that 2006 proves to be another good year for me."

2005 was MacDonald's finest year to date as he won over 680 races and $7 million in purses.