Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — Driver Mark MacDonald reached the winner’s circle on Hambletonian day last year at The Meadowlands with King Of The North in the Peter Haughton Memorial for 2-year-old colt trotters and the 43-year-old driver is hoping a repeat is in the cards on this year’s program on Saturday (Aug. 6) when he directs the now 3-year-old in the 97th renewal of the $1 million Hambletonian.

For MacDonald, a native of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, this will be his first-ever Hambletonian final after two prior drives in 2016 and 2017 failed to advance out of the eliminations. For King Of The North, a win would be sweet as the son of Walner-Check Me Out is winless in five attempts this year.

“It would be perfect to win this,” said MacDonald, who remembers learning about the Hambletonian while growing up on his family’s Canadian farm when neighbor H.B. Willis owned Arnie’s Aim, who finished second in his elim and fourth in the second heat in the first trotting classic raced at The Meadowlands in 1981.

“Everybody wants to race in the Hambletonian,” said MacDonald, who has 6,507 career wins and is less than $820,000 from reaching the $100 million mark in earnings.

Driver Mark MacDonald reached the winner’s circle on Hambletonian day last year with King Of The North in the Peter Haughton Memorial for 2-year-old colt trotters. USTA/Mark Hall photo.

Last year’s Dan Patch Award winner as 2-year-old Colt Trotter of the Year, King Of The North is trained by Ray Schnittker, who won the 2008 Hambletonian with Deweycheatumnhowe and whose Schnittker Ward shares ownership with Arden Homestead Stable, Nolamaura Racing and Steven Arnold. King Of The North will start from post eight in the 10-horse field (race 15).

MacDonald noted that while King Of The North finished fourth in his elimination last weekend behind the winning Jiggy Jog S, he lamented lack of racing room in the stretch. MacDonald had taken the early lead with King Of The North but after yielding the front, found himself locked in late.

“I never got out,” said MacDonald. “I was in a box there behind Brian (Sears, with Joviality S) and Orjan (Kihlstrom, with Temporal Hanover). They walked to the third quarter in 30 seconds and I had to back out around Orjan’s wheel and that’s when we really started sprinting. You can’t go backward and forward at the same time so I had to get him square.

“By then the race was over. At the wire he had lots of trot.”

MacDonald said he wasn’t concerned with King Of The North drawing an outside spot on the starting gate in the rich final.

“Post eight could be the best spot on the gate or it could not be,” he said with a laugh. “My opinion is that he is exactly where he is meant to be, and what will happen will happen.”

MacDonald says while King Of The North may have been given morning-line odds of 15-1, don’t discount his trotter’s chances.

“I don’t think anybody will be blown away if he wins,” he said. “He’s as good as any horse in there. Hopefully we can map something out. I think there are six or seven horses that have legitimate chances to win and I think that always makes for a good race.”

When asked, MacDonald was coy about his possible race strategy.

“Everybody wants to be in a good position,” said MacDonald. “Maybe we’ll have to be aggressive or maybe we can sit back and pick up the pieces. You never know, you have to keep an open mind from that position.

“He’s a better stalker; he likes to chase horses down with a target. He’s coming into this in really good shape and I think he’s peaking. Ray (Schnittker) said he trained him (Tuesday, Aug. 2) and he said he trained good. You have to hope the racing gods are with us on Saturday and we get a little racing luck.”

$1 million Hambletonian final
Post, Driver, Trainer, Morning Line
1. Rebuff, Tim Tetrick, Lucas Wallin, 9-5
2. Joviality S, Brian Sears, Marcus Melander, 7-2
3. Fast As The Wind, Yannick Gingras, Tony Alagna, 8-1
4. Keg Stand, David Miller, Nancy Takter, 10-1
5. Jiggy Jog S, Dexter Dunn, Ake Svanstedt, 4-1
6. Cool Papa Bell, Todd McCarthy, Jim Campbell, 15-1
7. Temporal Hanover, Orjan Kihlstrom, Marcus Melander, 8-1
8. King Of The North, Mark MacDonald, Ray Schnittker, 15-1
9. Periculum, Mattias Melander, Marcus Melander, 15-1
10. Looks Like Moni, Andrew McCarthy, Nancy Takter, 15-1