Golden Eye: Mike MacDonald

By Nicholas Oakes

It’s 2 am in La Belle Province.

Stepping off his late-night flight, trainer Mark Ford is thinking it’s time to find a hotel. But to his surprise, longtime friend Mike MacDonald is waiting for him, and will have no part of this hotel talk. MacDonald and his wife, Judy, insist on treating  Ford to some old-fashioned maritime hospitality (albeit in Montreal).

It wasn’t long before Ford realized this was the norm with MacDonald – his hospitality is notorious.
“Not just me but he would drag anyone home,” Ford – of Gallo Blue Chip fame – says. “Mike would come busting through the door at 2:30 a.m. and yell ‘Judy,’ then there would be a four course dinner on the table, then a full breakfast the next day at 7:00. I’ve never been to Montreal where I haven’t stayed with Mike and Judy.”
But this Maritime native, kind as he may be, is far more than a one trick pony. He’s banked 1,275 wins and $8,019,060 as a trainer, and 2.294 wins and $13,589,165 as a driver, throughout an illustrious career across Canada and the United States.
MacDonald, 61, grew up in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and found himself spending a great deal of time with Claude O’Brien (brother to the legendary Joe O’Brien) and it got him interested in racing.
For almost 40 years, MacDonald campaigned his stable from Hippodrome De Montreal (formerly Blue Bonnets) but it wasn’t the happiest of events that took him there.
While in his mid-teens on the island, MacDonald was in a hockey game that got ugly. When all was said and done, he found himself spending a night in jail to cool off. That was the end of MacDonald on P.E.I.
“I just kind of got disgusted with myself and said ‘Geez I have to go somewhere else.’”
That ‘somewhere’ was to Montreal to work for fellow Islander James ‘Roach’ MacGregor as he packed his bags the next day and started hitchhiking.
In Montreal he married Judy in 1973 and opened a public stable, but is quick to credit Maritimers for his success.
“I didn’t really make myself successful, I had a lot of good horses from home,” MacDonald says modestly.
Some of his success he’s quick to credit to longtime employees Jamie Smith and Joey Shea (currently the trainer of Keep It Real).
“To have two guys like that at the same time was unbelievable,” Judy says.
Mike Campbell has been a lifelong friend of MacDonald and says the environment they grew up in is what made MacDonald the horseman he is.
“He worked for some of the best horsemen that ever lived,” Campbell says. “Those old boys that were around the Island when we were kids growing up, if they thought you were serious about your trade, they would help you and tell you what was right and what was wrong. Those fellas around there when were kids were the best. Any one of them could’ve went anywhere and excelled because they were all top notch horsemen.”
He says MacDonald could see in horses what most people couldn’t.
“A lot of times over the years he took horses that people tried to race and couldn’t do any good with them and take the hopples off them or do something like that.”
Through it all though, MacDonald remained honest, Campbell says.
“He’s never taken a horse for anybody and kept it when it wasn’t doing any good,” Campbell says. “If the horse wasn’t doing he would call you up and say ‘I have this horse and when he gets a little better, you know, we’ll try him again.’ That’s just the way he was. He was never the kind to take advantage of somebody, he used everybody fair and square I always thought.”
It would be the Gold Cup & Saucer back home on P.E.I. that would prove to be where MacDonald shined brightest.
His first win came in 1975 aboard Ventall Rainbow, then he came back to win it again in 1977 with the same horse.
In 1984, Mike took home Pearl’s Falcon but had all week to endure the banter of good friend George Canning – who owned Winner’s Accolade that was also in the Gold Cup & Saucer final. Canning was adamant that his horse would be in the winner’s circle at the end of the week.
In the final, Mike was on top by four lengths with Pearls Falcon halfway down the stretch, then turned around in the bike to look at Winner’s Accolade while waving his arm forward and yelling “Come on George. Get going George.”
“It was bad,” Judy remembers. “It was really bad sportsmanship but Mike just couldn’t help himself.”
Mike and George laughed it off after the race and in 1985, George made a decision.
“The next year George said (to Mike) ‘I can’t beat ya so I might as well join ya.’”
That year Mike and Winner’s Accolade scorched the Charlottetown oval in 1:57.3 while winning the final.
Back home in Montreal, owner George Henderson approached Mike looking for a good race horse. After paying $200,000 for Bomb Rickles and watching him destroy the Quebec City track record and set a Canadian record of 1:55 over a half-mile track, Henderson figured he got his money’s worth but wanted a little more.
“Well, I might as well get a good trotter now,” Henderson told Mike.
Mike found one and he and Judy dropped by Henderson’s business office and told him they found a horse.
“Ok, go down to my bank manager and get a cheque,” was all he said.
The price tag on the horse (Vizzi Hanover) was $140,000 and Henderson didn’t even ask for the horse’s name.
In 1995, Mike was thinking about not taking a horse for the Gold Cup but his daughter Laura – who was 12 at the time – was certain Sandy Hanover should make the trip. After drawing into the final and giving Mike his fifth Gold Cup & Saucer driving win (more than any other driver), it appears Laura was right.
All told, between 1973 and 2007 Mike would race in the Gold Cup final 29 times. Many people would go on to dub Mike ‘Mr. Gold Cup & Saucer’ but Mike doesn’t consider himself that.
“No, no, there has been a lot of people race in the Gold Cup & Saucer,” Mike says.
Recently, Mike has seen some talented drivers pass through his barn, most notably Mark and Anthony MacDonald, who both worked for Mike in their teens.
“He made me,” Anthony says of Mike. “He made Mark, he would make something out of anybody who had anything to do with him. I don’t think you could walk around the world and find a guy like Mike MacDonald.”
“He would do anything for anyone. It wouldn’t matter if you just had a fight with him last night and you needed a set of harness because you didn’t have one. If you asked, the shiniest set of harness would be hanging on your crossties the next morning.”
Mark says Mike was a teacher to him, and considering Mark’s numerous Canadian dash winning titles, he must’ve taught something right.
“Mike taught me a lot about racing, and about everything really,” Mark says. “He definitely taught me a lot about training when I opened my own stable. He always presents himself good too, he’s got a lot of class.”
Presentation was something Mike had to pound into Mark the first day the youngster was set to go for his qualifying drives. Mark was driving two for Mike and rushed to the paddock after getting the barn work done, but still had his sneakers on. As soon as Mike saw Mark, he swiftly sent him back to the barn to put driving boots on.
The biggest part was Mike showed Mark he could make it in the business.
“He gave me a lot of confidence in myself. That’s something I didn’t have when I started working for him.”
Mark doesn’t know how exactly how Mike did it.
“It’s just the way Mike is,” Mark says. “If you were working for him and you did a good job he’d tell you.”
Anthony can’t help but agree.
“Whether you liked him or whether you hated him, if you knew Mike MacDonald you would learn something about harness racing.”
Even Mark Ford credits MacDonald for getting him started.
“I was 22-23 at the time and he was always very good to me,” Ford says. “When I was just getting started in New York he was just one of those guys that was always around. He helped me quite a bit, he helped me get started, raced a few horses for me, and was there for me when I really needed it. I’m very thankful to him for what he did for me to get me started.”
MacDonald has now moved back to P.E.I. to retire due to the state of racing in Quebec.
“Montreal was dead, it was gone,” Judy says, “There was nothing there for us.”
Now Mike is just enjoying the East Coast breeze and thinking back on a career most would only dream of having.