Another driving hat trick for James Macdonald

James Macdonald won the most races of any harness racing driver Thursday (Mar. 14) night at Woodbine Mohawk Park. He visited the winner’s circle 4 times during the ten-dash card.

Macdonald claimed the first race of the night with Hallie Inthecloud (Muscle Mass). The three-year-old filly charged to the front end and opened the race with a 28.3 first quarter. She held a two-length lead over Quick Fix (Louis-Philippe Roy) as the strung-out field marched down the backstretch. After trotting fractions of 1:01.0 and 1:30.4, Hallie Intheclouds kept up the top form and couldn’t be caught. Even with her drifting out wide down the stretch, she ended the race with 28.1 last quarter and a final mile time of 1:59.0.
Quick Fix finished second and Come On Stanley (Tyler Borth) held on to third.

HALLIE INTHECLOUDS REPLAY

Macdonald’s next win came in the sixth race with the Richard Moreau-trained Hillbilly Jet (Ponder). The ten-year-old mare found space in fourth place earlier on as Silly But Serious (Tyler Borth) set the opening quarter of 26.4. It wasn’t too long before Hillbilly Jet made her move and slowly moved up. Hillbilly Jet was neck-to-neck with Silly But Serious at the half-mile station. It was a slower 29.3-second panel as Hillbilly Jet cleared and took the outright lead. After a three-quarter time of 1:26.3, Hillbilly Jet finished off with 29.0 last quarter which left the clock at 1:55.3.
Play Duhara (Tyler Jones) at 40-1 finished second while the 35-1 Eyes On The Prize (Jody Jamieson) finished third.

HILLBILLY JET REPLAY

Macdonald’s third and final win of the night came in the seventh race with The Pinball Wizard (Archangel). The Yvette Gallant trained trotter fought hard for the early lead and leap-frogged over 48-1 longshot Lady All Star (Austin Sorrie) before hitting the quarter mile station in 27.2. The Pinball Wizard would trot fractions of 58.3 and 1:27.2 before closing with a 29.0 last quarter. The final mile time was 1:56.2 as he won by just a head.
Tyrone Boy Tie (Todd Ratchford) came from eighth place to finish second as Er Norma (Louis-Phillipe Roy) held onto third.

THE PINBALL WIZARD REPLAY

Racing resumes at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Friday (Mar. 1) at 7:10 p.m. EST.

For complete race results, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink