Canadian pauses tour to drive in Invercargill

CANADIAN harness racing driver Anthony McDonald will put his microphone down to drive at Invercargill on Saturday.

The 3000race winning horseman is in New Zealand on a speaking tour backed by Harness Racing New Zealand.

McDonald will hold the first of three seminars in Invercargill tomorrow night, discussing methods to grow ownership in the sport.

He has then been booked by trainer Doug McLachlan for three drives at the Ascot Park meeting on Saturday.

Driving horses was how McDonald began his career in harness racing, before he became a leading voice on horse ownership.

‘‘I spent two decades as a professional driver, but I don’t seek out drives any more,’’ he said.

‘‘I went from driving 3000 races a year in 2011 to around 500 a year.’’

McDonald’s driving career got put on hold after a run at local politics in 2015 fuelled the trans formation of his career.

His campaign was driven by the need to salvage harness racing after it was devastated by the loss of gambling machine money, which had previously poured into the industry in Canada.

The horseman’s doorknocking and engaging with the community opened his eyes to a new potential customer base who were interested in harness racing, but had never directly engaged with the industry.

That led to him developing branding and communication techniques to attract potential owners to join his stable.

‘‘I learned a lot in politics — I learned how to build my stable and how to speak to people about it.’’

The concept took off, and three years later McDonald has more than 500 owners with horses in his stable.

Most have small shares in horses under McDonald’s fractional ownership concept, ‘‘a concept where many people take tiny shares in horses’’.

He services those owners through multimedia platforms that allow them to be consistently updated with the progress of their investments.

McDonald is convinced that his ownership model can work in New Zealand, and he will share his story of success at his upcoming seminars.

‘‘There is a whole generation out there that we need to connect with, and I believe you can use fractional ownership to connect with them . . . if you do that, harness racing can corner the entertainment market.’’

McDonald will speak at the Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill at 7pm tomorrow.