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Canada's James MacDonald leads World Driving Championship heading into final leg

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Canada’s James MacDonald padded his World Driving Championship lead with a win, a second-place finish and a third-place finish in four tournament races Wednesday evening at Hippodrome 3R in Trois-Rivières, Que.

His victory came behind Federal Strike ($6.10) in the evening’s second WDC event, and it took some crafty driving to overcome Post 11 in the mile-and-a-sixteenth affair for trotters. The pair established second-over position behind Swedish driver Bjorn Goop and Abundasass nearing the midway stage, then was caught in a blind switch by the three-wide Crown Point (Gerhard Mayr, Austria) but worked into the pocket on the far turn before finding room at head-stretch and lifting to a going-away win.

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MacDonald began the evening with a second-place finish aboard Ninoscredit behind American Marcus Miller and Maracasso ($6.60), who emerged second-over out of traffic before sustaining a belated rally to the fore, and he concluded the card with a third-place finish up the open stretch with Winoc Jimmy behind Maltese driver Noel Baldacchino and Tidewater Tomahawk ($16.30). His lone off-the-board finish came in the night’s third tournament race, which saw Finnish driver Mika Forss reclaim second in the standings with a victory aboard 10-year-old veteran Shanghai B G ($6.10).

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Leg 1 of the championship took place at Balzac’s Century Downs last Saturday.

“I’ve been really lucky,” MacDonald said Tuesday night in Innisfil, Ont. “You have to have the right horse.”

“There are some really great drivers who haven’t won a race as yet. You need the right horse in the right spot. It’s been really tough and I’ve been very fortunate.”

The fifth and final leg of the WDC is scheduled for Friday evening at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at Charlottetown Driving Park on Prince Edward Island. MacDonald’s 192 points give him a comfortable 26-point lead over Forss (166), while Miller (162.5) remains a close third. Defending champion Dexter Dunn of New Zealand (131) and Baldacchino (120) lifted one position each into fourth and fifth respectively, while Shane Graham (Australia), Goop, Mayr, Eirik Hoitomt (Norway), Rik Depuydt (Belgium) and Mark Purdon (New Zealand) round out the field.

The top point-earner at the end of the five legs will be declared the 2017 World Driving Champion and win $25,000 in prize money.

The World Driving Championship — along with the 25th anniversary edition of the World Trotting Conference, to be hosted in Charlottetown — are both held every two years and will coincide with the 250th Anniversary of horse racing in Canada, and Canada 150 celebrations.

— Postmedia news services

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