“Where in the world is James McDonald?” has become a game in the past year as the kid from New Zealand exceeded his dreams in a remarkable 12 months.
Enormously talented and relentlessly driven, McDonald had a season to remember riding in five different countries, amassing almost $60 million in prizemoney.
From Randwick to Riyadh, Moonee Valley to Royal Ascot, with several stops in Hong Kong along the way.
“It was a pretty unique year,” McDonald said,
“You never dream of doing what I have done in the past year. I’m quite ambitious, but I didn’t think it would turn out like this.”
You need champions under you to reach 21 Group 1 wins in a season, and McDonald had three of them to take him to the world’s biggest meetings.
“I don’t think that anyone, anywhere in the world has had a group of horses like Via [Sistina], Romantic [Warrior] and Voyage Bubble,” he reflects.
“Each of them is a champion, and they are all at different distances in different parts of the world, so fortunately for me, they will never clash, so I don’t have to choose.”
“I don’t think I can have a year like that again in terms of prizemoney and probably not Group 1s.”
McDonald doesn’t have time to sit back and enjoy the success for that long with spring on the doorstep.
He has already opened his Group 1 account with Via Sistina in the Winx Stakes, which puts him ahead of last year’s schedule when he had to watch Via Sistina beat him on Fangirl in the season’s opening Group 1.
But the next three months will follow a familiar pattern in Australia and Hong Kong, when Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble call him back to racing’s Mecca.
McDonald’s book is filled with opportunity for the spring.
“People know the horses I ride as well as me,” he said. “They see what they do and know what they are capable of and what to expect.”
“Via Sistina is going down her usual path. She does the same program as the mighty mare, but she is no Winx. She is a big brute of thing, and her record since getting out here is outstanding. She has just physically developed from the time she got off the plane and is getting better. I can’t say she has really adapted to our racing style. She is still a bit European in that she is a little slow away and gets back in the field. She definitely hasn’t adapted to the early pace of our races yet, but she hasn’t needed to.”
Autumn Glow was part of a McDonald winning treble on Winx Stakes Day, remaining unbeaten.
“Her and Lady Shenandoah have physically developed the way you would want,” he observed.
“Even though Lady Shenandoah won two Group 1s at a mile, I think she will sprint. She’s a pretty fast horse. She is only going to get faster as she gets older and gets stronger. Autumn Glow is more the miler, but both still have it all in front of them against the older horses, which is exciting.”
McDonald rolls into the next group of horses without hesitation.
“I’m looking pretty strong in the three-year-old colts department. The Wodetons of the world, the Autumn Boys of the world,” he adds.
“I’ll probably have the same schedule to Hong Kong, which is an easy trip and probably have a stint up there again at the end of the spring.”
VIA SISTINA IS THE 2024 COX PLATE CHAMPION! 💚
JAMES MCDONALD NOTCHES UP HIS 100TH GROUP 1! 💯@cwallerracing @mcacajamez @YulongInvest @TheValley pic.twitter.com/T0vZZwrfNQ
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 26, 2024
