Western Fair: Borth best in 2024 Ontario Regional Driving Championship

In his first Regional Driving Championship appearance, Tyler Borth showed he's a main event player with a victory in the 2024 Ontario Regional Driving Championship (ORDC) on Tuesday, April 23 at The Raceway at the Western Fair District in London, Ont.

Borth's 71 points topped the standings, with James MacDonald (59) finishing second. Those two drivers advance to the 2024 National Driving Championship at Hippodrome 3R in Trois-Rivieres, Que. on Friday, July 5.

In his eight driving assignments on Tuesday, Borth won two and finished in the top pair five times. MacDonald (2) was the only other driver with multiple ORDC leg wins.

Borth's victories came in the third leg courtesy 10-year-old veteran pacer Devils Peak (1:59 1/5; $8.70) and in the fifth leg aboard nine-year-old trotter Iam What I Am (1:59 2/5; $12.20). Despite leading the competition from the second ORDC leg onward, Borth did not drive a pari-mutuel favourite during the competition.

"Going into the last race, I didn't really know where the standings were at," Borth noted after his ORDC victory. "A couple of people told me I had it all wrapped up, but I thought I had a good shot. I thought the race would set up the way it set up, and I figured if I got away in the two hole that I would finish second and then that would wrap it up."

Western Fair's Driver of the Year the past two seasons, Tyler Borth came into 2024 off his best year in the business with 414 victories and more than $4.3 million in earnings in 2023. The Ingersoll, Ont. resident, a winner of the Future Star Award at the 2014 O'Brien Awards, has also made a dent in the driver's standings at Woodbine Mohawk Park, where he currently sits fifth overall.

Heading into the 2024 ORDC, Borth ranked second in the nation in driving wins — just how he finished 2023 — with 114, while his $1.25 million in purses place him in third among Canadian drivers.

"I've gone so far in my career very fast lately, and it just seems to be going up and up for me," said the modest horseman after his victory. "It's surprising, you know? I never thought it would go as fast as it has."

James MacDonald, voted the Keith Waples Driver of the Year as Canada's top teamster for the past three seasons, is no stranger to these competitions having successfully represented Canada as the 2017 World Driving Champion.

"Everyone drives so hard and it's always great to come out and be one of the ones to advance," added MacDonald. "It's a lot of luck and a lot of [having] the horses showing up to play for you that night. I've won these, I finished last in these so just to move on I'm really happy, and really happy for Tyler. He did a great job."

-edited release (Standardbred Canada)