Harness: MacDonald on top of the world after Meadowlands Pace win

There's no question that driver Mark MacDonald would rather have "earned" the victory in Saturday's (July 17) Meadowlands Pace than be elevated to the top spot due to another driver's misdeeds. Yet when you consider how far MacDonald has come just to be at the The Big M on a Meadowlands Pace night, let alone drive the ultimate winner, it's easy to root for him.

Precisely two years ago MacDonald was thrown from the sulky at Saratoga Harness by an unmanageable horse. His recovery had him on a solid path to get back in the sulky in 2020.

"Then Covid hit," MacDonald said on Monday (July 19). "I had to make a decision on where to go and I decided to go to Kentucky."

Needless to say for MacDonald, who had been a top driver on the WEG circuit before emigrating to the States and was once a rising star in metropolitan New York, the move to Kentucky was his way of understanding that the only way a catch-driver can put himself back on top is to start at the bottom.

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While Kentucky did give MacDonald driving opportunities in 2020, it was hardly a lucrative move, but persistence is something that tends to pay off and when it came to where to drive this winter, MacDonald took a stand.

"I decided to come to the Meadowlands and stick it out," MacDonald said. While it's just a few nights a week, MacDonald was interested in letting trainers know that he was going to be there if his services were required.

While the driving opportunities were still a bit slim, MacDonald was able to gain some attention on the racetrack and find the winner's circle when given a live horse. Few who watch the game take notice of just how well 50-1 and above shots are being driven, but catch-drivers understand no matter how bad the odds look on paper their job is to do the best for each horse they steer.

Luck has always been a major force in this sport and without question Lawless Shadow's trainer Dr. Ian Moore has sent countless horses to The Meadowlands without MacDonald getting the call. This year when he elected to drop in the box for the premier Meadowlands sophomore pacing contest, a host of top pilots he's used in the past had prior commitments. Add to the mix the fact that Lawless Shadow's past performance lines were good but hardly reason enough for the sport's "A" list drivers to hop off a regular mount.

It's those factors that a driver in MacDonald's shoes needs in order to be given the opportunity and without question over the last two weeks he took advantage of the situation.

MacDonald appeared to have his hands full in the Pace elimination climbing all over the eventual winner Southwind Gendry while trying to keep Lawless Shadow in the pocket.

"I got him a little wound up at the start and he's a big horse that was hard to settle," said MacDonald. "The pace was much faster [in the final] and he was able to relax."

If MacDonald could have had things differently, he would much rather have crossed the wire first and left no doubt about the horse and the driver.

"I think if Brett (Miller) hadn't crossed down and pinned me in [leaving a clear lane for Lawless Shadow] we would have won the race," said MacDonald. "I had to angle him across the track."

While The Meadowlands Pace is certainly a victory every driver would love to have, for MacDonald the weekend at The Big M began with a stakes score where his driving skills were fully on display and the win rather sweet. King Of The North, a colt from the first crop of Walner out of Ray Schnittker's champion mare Check Me Out, had captured the first two legs of the New Jersey Sire Stakes on the front end leaving MacDonald to navigate the final.

"You just don't want to have to the leave the gate every week with a young horse," MacDonald said. "I saw there was a lot of speed in the race and I just wanted to get away close enough, hoping to get a second-over trip."

That the journey worked out just the way MacDonald envisioned and that King Of The North would win in a career-best 1:52 4/5 mile capturing the $200,000 event had much to do with MacDonald's understanding of the race and the horse he was driving.

"I've been driving him for quite some time," said MacDonald. "I was training him for Ray and sat behind him a lot over the winter and spring. He's a very smart colt that you can drive like an aged horse."

King Of The North and MacDonald will have another chance for big money when they both return for the Peter Haughton Memorial, with trials set for Friday, July 30 and the final hopefully on Hambletonian Day (August 7) at The Meadowlands.

MacDonald also seems excited about a couple of pacers that haven't quite gotten it all figured out just yet but may be ready to turn the corner. Billy Clyde has been nosed out by Lou's Pearlman on two straight occasions at The Meadowlands after cutting the mile, frustrating his driver to some degree.

"The first week I thought I had lost him and he snuck up the inside," said MacDonald. "Last Saturday I just got outsprinted. I think he's [Billy Clyde] the kind of horse that needed to get stretched out on the big track and those races will do him good."

On the 2-year-old front there's a Huntsville colt named Hunted House that you may not hear much about until later this year or perhaps next year.

"I think he's got a lot of ability," said MacDonald of the Schnittker trainee. "He's a big horse that's still growing and trying to figure things out, but he's got speed and wants to go."

While MacDonald may have a keen eye on where some of his horses will go, when it comes to his own schedule it's pretty much up in the air.

"I raced Monday [July 19] at Monticello and Tuesday at Saratoga, and I'm leaving it open," said MacDonald of his options. "Hopefully I'll go up to Canada to drive Lawless Shadow again in some races."

With patience and determination Mark MacDonald has clawed his way back to compete on the biggest stage in the business.