MacDonald hurts shoulder

Mark MacDonald told harnessracing.com Monday afternoon that he re-injured his left shoulder Sunday night in a race accident at Flamboro Downs, but that it may not cost him any time away from the sulky. MacDonald said he may book off his nine mounts at Woodbine Monday night, but after that he will decide on a day-to-day basis when he will drive again.

MacDonald, currently second in North America in 2006 with 694 wins and third with more than $9.4 million in purse earnings, was injured in Flamboro’s fourth race when the horse he was driving, Master Jonathan, made a break at the top of the stretch and was run into by driver Jody Jamieson and Motion Potion.

“I’m hanging in there, I guess. Unfortunately, when we hook wheels I usually lose those battles; the heaviest guy stays on so I don’t have a shot,” MacDonald said with a laugh, noting that Jamieson remained upright and was not hurt.

“I’m frustrated because I dislocated my shoulder again. It’s an old injury and bothers me a lot,” added MacDonald, who turns 28 on Dec. 9. “Last Monday I was waiting to see a specialist because it had been bugging me all summer. In August I separated it again and it hadn’t bothered me for about three years. They wanted to put a pin in it but I wanted to work through it.”

MacDonald said he originally dislocated the shoulder—along with breaking his wrist in three places—about five years ago in a race accident at Windsor Raceway. He said he has since decided against having surgery—which would likely sideline him for about six months—and races through it.

“It doesn’t bother me to pull on a horse because the pressure of your shoulder comes to the front, and this is in the back,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me to drive, but little things like switching a hand hold will.

“I had it injected last Monday by the specialist and it had just started to come good, but I popped it last night. It was just about 100 percent and this happened and now I’m back to square one. But I’m going to drive through it, like I have been. I have a custom brace that I will wear for about a month.”

MacDonald said he dislocated the shoulder Monday on impact, but that it popped itself back into place before he even got off the track.

“It came out and when I was getting off the track--I still had the lines in my hand--it snapped back in,” he said. “It was only out for about 15-20 seconds but it probably stretched everything again.

“I’m kind of glad it went back in,” he added with a laugh. “It was a relief. It’s just like going from a broken bone to not a broken bone in a matter of seconds.”

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