Welcome to Ontario Racing's 2022 Year in Review. We are recapping an incredible year of racing in Ontario, by sharing some of our favourite stories from the past year. We're going in chronological order, so to kick us off we have a recap story from James MacDonald's hat trick at Flamboro Downs on Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup night.
This was a sign of things to come as MacDonald was the OSS’ leading driver in 2022.
Originally published: May 22, 2022
James MacDonald started the 2022 Ontario Sires Stakes season the way he finished 2021, in the winner’s circle. The 2021 Lampman Cup winner won three of four $22,000 Grassroots divisions for three-year-old pacing colts on Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup night at Flamboro Downs.
The Guelph, Ont., native kicked off the evening by driving Century Invictus to a gate-to-wire victory in race one. The son of Bettors Delight surged straight to the lead from the five post, and didn’t look back, pacing a mile in 1:55.1.
“I raced (Century Invictus) last year in the Grassroots, and he is absolutely built for a half-mile track,”
said MacDonald. “He’s a little guy, and has a rocket move off the gate. I was looking forward to driving him tonight. No matter where he drew, I knew was going to make my way to the lead.”
Century Invictus, trained by Harry Poulton, moves to a record of 1-2-0 in five starts this season for his TheStable.ca owners.
MacDonald followed up with a win in the second Grassroots division, race three on the card. He piloted Coligny Hanover (Sunshine Beach) to victory in a time of 1:53.1.
“He’s a good little horse, but he can be a little steppy at times. So the rail helped,” said MacDonald. “I wanted to get him away clean, once we got through the first turn, we straightened up going (halfway), I moved him (into first) and he did the rest.”
The first win of 2022 pushed the Anthony Beaton trained colt over $50,000 in career earnings.
Silk Road Smash helped MacDonald complete the hat-trick in race eight, the fourth and final Grassroots division of the evening. The Nick Gallucci trainee bounced back nicely from going off-stride two weekends ago in the Ontario Sired Spring Series Final at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
“Just another little horse that is a great half-miler. He always has a good step, and I had the vibe he wasn’t going to do it again,” said MacDonald. “He paced great tonight, and I was really happy with him.”
MacDonald notched five total wins on the evening, including the $273,500 Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup for four-year-old pacing males, where he repeated his gate-to-wire effort from race one, with Linedrive Hanover leading all the way to score the victory.
“It’s awesome to have a great night like this, because in this business there can be a lot of tough nights,” said MacDonald. “So, it’s just a great night.”
Sports Advisor won the other Grassroots leg, race six, under a drive from Doug McNair. The Richard Zeron trainee sat in third position throughout, before making his move heading into the final ¼ mile and pulling away to win by two lengths over fellow Sportswriter son Twin B Raptor.
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