Freelton’s MacDonald finishes second in Canada
The top drivers in harness racing are judged on how much prize money they won, what major races did they capture and which premier horses did they drive.
Brett MacDonald accomplished none of those, but he crafted a year that suggests such attributes could come his way in the future.
The 24-year-old Freelton horseman finished second in all of Canada in races won after a rigorous season that saw him spend more than 60,000 kilometres on Ontario’s highways zipping between tracks.
He emerged top dog at Flamboro Downs, Georgian Downs and Clinton Raceway and was well placed at several others.
He is a workhorse and only the shutdown of racing due to COVID-19 restrictions prevented him from participating in more than 2,000 races.
Even with the benefit of the invincibility of youth, the seven-day-a-week schedule is soul sapping.
Ajax born but Ottawa area reared, MacDonald was yet another who is living the dream of driving harness horses for a living.
“I knew I wanted to do it at a very early age. My family was into it and I simply did not like school. I did graduate high school and did some classes in the electrician and other trade fields, but it was always about the horses,” he explains.
His father, Ron, maintains a 16-horse stable at Baycairn Training Centre near Carlisle. Brett spends as much time helping out at the barn in the mornings as he does driving.
“That is the sick part of all this
— trying to get some balance in life but you cannot. It’s seven nights a week in the winter driving and six in the summer. But if one wants to do this there is no other way,” he says.
“I’m very happy with my year winning 279 races and nearly $1.8 million in purses. Both are personal highs. I won’t go into 2021with any specific goals other than to do better.”
What he does not say is the realization that he has to make that difficult breakthrough and get to drive better horses in the best stables. That means at Woodbine Mohawk Park and no one hands out drives because one has a pretty face. He is going to have to earn it.
His father’s stable did not have its best year and, at least for the moment, is a B-circuit operation. That can change quickly but MacDonald needs to look further afield.
MacDonald has been driving just six years now and it is easy to forget he is still young. He must position himself so that when a trainer becomes disgusted with his regular driver and wants to send a message that he would look to a hungry, young gunslinger to shake the apple tree. And make no mistake, trainers are watching what he does and how he conducts himself.
In total, MacDonald has driven in 6,827 races as he works to refine his craft. It’s as much about winning some races that realistically he should not have won as it is winning the ones he should. People want to see that he can make speed with a horse but also help the horse to carry it to the winner’s circle.
MacDonald is paying his dues and one has to think it is just a matter of time before he gets his shot at being bigger and better.