Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

MacDonald is Canada's New Driving Prince

Januaryl 1, 2007

With five wins on Sunday, December 31, 2006, Mark MacDonald has moved from record breaker to Canadian harness racing history maker. With the handful of New Year's Eve victories, three at Woodbine and two at Flamboro, the 28-year-old native of Prince Edward Island completed 2006 with 739 Canadian wins - 47 more than he captured during his O'Brien Award winning season of '05 and 96 wins more than the record that stood previously.

Last year, after his 692 win season, MacDonald was named co-newsmaker of the year by his hometown newspaper The Guardian. When he returned home, Premier Pat Binns officially proclaimed Mark MacDonald Day on P.E.I.

Chris Christoforou holds onto the coveted Canadian mark for most earnings in a season. In 2003, Christoforou earned $11.98 million. MacDonald's 2006 Canadian earnings were a career high $10,903,509. In total, he earned $11,451,932.

While MacDonald won the Canadian title, he failed to capture the Flamboro Downs driving championship. MacDonald was narrowly nosed out by Jody Jamieson. Jamieson won 306 races to MacDonald's 305. It was Jamieson's fourth consecutive Flamboro title. Including six wins in the United States, MacDonald had 745 victories from 3562 total starts in 2006.