Driver James MacDonald had a drive in each of the 10 races at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday, March 9. The Guelph, Ont.-based reinsman converted half of those opportunities into victories, visiting the winner's circle on five occasions.
The highlight of the card was the sixth race, a $28,000 event for non-winners of $27,000 in their last five starts. MacDonald notched one of his five tallies behind the lines of Sometime Somewhere (Somebeachsomewhere - Say Anything). The seven-year-old bay pacing gelding was relaxed in the early going, having left well from post one and sitting fifth behind the :26 opening fraction set by Jabberwocky (Phil Hudon). Momas Son Byrne (Jonathan Drury) was the 8-5 favourite and was parked before overtaking Jabberwocky and clearing just before the half, reaching that station in :54.2. Meanwhile, MacDonald sensed that the front pair was vulnerable and brought his charge to the outside, gliding first over and taking the lead before reaching three-quarters in 1:22.4. Sometime Somewhere opened up and stopped the teletimer in 1:51.3, finishing a comfortable three lengths in front of The Longest Yard (Jody Jamieson) and Cold Creek Queso (Sylvain Filion).
Robert Jones of Stony Plain, Alta., owns the Richard Moreau trainee, who has now won 27 races in his career and who vaulted over the $300,000 plateau in the Saturday feature, now boasting earnings of $313,928.
MacDonald had made his first visit to the winner's circle on Saturday after guiding Points North (Somebeachsomewhere - Northwest Hanover) to victory in the second race in 1:50.2, the fastest win time of the evening. Trained by Carmen Auciello, the nine-year-old gelding was a popular choice among bettors and paid $4.90 to win.
The demonstration of MacDonald's driving prowess continued in the very next race, with the Katie MacNeil-trained sophomore colt Ballykeel Painter (Dali - Boom Ballykeelbabe) setting a new lifetime mark of 1:54.2 and paying $24.70 to win.
That was not the only natural driving double for MacDonald; he followed his winning steer aboard Sometime Somewhere by taking the seventh race with Nazare (Sweet Lou - Butchy Beach) in 1:53. Conditioned by Dave Menary, the four-year-old bay gelding paid $3.90 to win.
Isaac Waxman trainee Beyond Bettor (Bettors Delight - Somethinincredible) toured the Campbellville oval in 1:52.3 and offered a $4.50 payout to those who bet $2 that Saturday's ninth race would be the first win of 2024 for the seven-year-old bay gelding and the fifth win of the night for MacDonald.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)