(PHOTO - CARAWAYS MR NATIVE and JEFF MACLAREN winning at Ajax Downs. New Image Media Photo; Profile photo of Jeff by Laurie Overton)
You may have seen a new but familiar face in the Ajax Downs winner’s circle recently.
Jeff MacLaren, one of Picov and Ajax Downs’ top riders from 2003-2012 returned to the saddle late this summer. Jeff missed the last four years of race-riding following a serious accident that shattered his heel. In his last year of riding, the personable rider won 22 races at Ajax and his horses won purses of almost $500,000.
Jeff was surrounded by horses from the age of seven and he got his start in racing in Quarter Horses. He left the sport for a few years to ride Thoroughbreds but his love for the Quarter Horse was ignited again by a gelding named Caraways Mr Native.
“Carol Proctor called me up one day and asked me to ride him, she was looking for someone to get him really going from start to finish,” said Jeff.
Caraways Mr Native had won a few races before Jeff climbed aboard in August 2003 but the horse seemed to blossom with his new riding partner.
Jeff and ‘Mr’ won their first four races together at the former Picov Downs and had a total of five wins in that first season.
Unfortunately, Jeff tore his rotator cuff early in 2004 and missed three years of riding.
The pair were reunited in 2007 and for the next two season won another two races at the new Ajax Downs.
“He was built like a big Thoroughbred,’ said Jeff. “We really clicked together and he developed into the first Triple A horse I had ridden.”
Caraways Mr Native retired in 2009 with 17 wins in 87 races and earnings of $87,911. Now 17, the gelding is enjoying life with the Proctors in Gilford, ON.
Jeff was so enamored with the heart and speed of his favourite gelding that he promptly went out and won 19 races at Ajax in 2010. The married father of two girls is currently working for Erik and Joyce Lehtinen's JEM Farms who put him on their talented runner Memory of Jay, a winner on Oct. 17.
It seems as if Jeff not only has the same toughness that Caraways Mr Native had but has made himself a career thanks to the bay gelding.
"He really piqued my interest in Quarter Horses," said Jeff. "We did well together."
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