LEADING WITH HIS LEFT

Despite suffering a severe arm injury in a recent training accident, John MacMillan hasn’t slowed down his routine. He continues to keep swinging. Story by Norm Borg

On a busy race night in the paddock at Rideau Carleton Raceway, John MacMillan looks down at his right arm, flashes his impish grin and quips “I’m a quick healer”... and with that he hops on the sulky to warm up one of three horses he is racing this night.

Rideau’s leading trainer suffered tendon, nerve and bone damage after being bitten by one of his star pupils. “Anderlecht got his legs stuck in the paddock stall before his race, I went to help him out and he simply reacted.” That’s a gentle way of describing it. The damage would be enough to sideline most people, but not the indestructible MacMillan. Within days he was back in his Spencerville barn, shoeing his stock. A couple of weeks later, he was back in the bike driving.

Driven, is one way to describe MacMillan. His drive has honed his skills as a talent scout, with a stable full of now refined but one-time diamonds in the rough. “I look for fast horses even if they might be having issues,” he says. “They may not be quite good enough to race on the big circuit but I’d rather take a chance on a fast horse and get him to do things right. If you can make those adjustments, you are going to win races.”

MacMillan is a tireless worker and he expects no less from his stock. “We jog seven days a week. It’s always been my routine. Turnouts are also a must. I am constantly making adjustments to any horse that underperforms in a given race. It could be less demanding training miles or conversely, stiffer training miles. Either way my horses always arrive at the track in fit racing condition.” Such discipline is combined with strict adherence to priorities and when it comes to that, one aspect gets top treatment. “If you don’t have feet you don’t have a racehorse so regardless of our time constraints, we make sure their feet are done first.”

Indeed fitness is at the core of MacMillan’s training and his personal philosophy as well (he recently competed in the Montreal City marathon). It’s paid off. One of “Johnny Mac’s” pupils, Rural Art, won the final of the Ontario Autumn Series this past fall at Woodbine. “Hard work, having great help and good owners” says MacMillan, are other keys. “A lot of the owners that I have don’t necessarily have a lot of specific horse knowledge but they’re smart people. So I try and tell them what I can about the horse and then they make the correct business decisions. There are a lot of smart people in this game that don’t know the ins and outs of training a horse but they’re clever enough to look at the numbers and the classes and make the right business decisions. I’m lucky, I’ve hooked up with some smart people.” The same kind of synergy exists in the relationship between MacMillan and his drivers. “I try to match the right horse to the right driver” he says. That too has paid dividends. One of his go-to guys is Gord Brown and the two have combined for a win average of 57% in November. Another of MacMillan’s ace reinsmen is Ted McDonald. He is also among Rideau’s leading drivers and in Johnny Mac’s opinion, ranks with Walter Case and Trevor Henry when it comes to being the best front end driver he’s seen.

The 44-year-old Kingston native can also be described as a man for all racing. He has done it all, from taking a groom’s job at age 15, to announcing races, training, driving and even a stint as General Manager at Rideau Carleton Raceway - all the while studying and obtaining his Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Queens University. “I was putting in 30 hours a week studying and another 50 to 60 hours in my general managers role,” he says with a sigh filled chuckle.

MacMillan points to the degree as an indispensable tool in managing his business as a trainer. “It’s helped me with my cost analysis. A lot of trainers think they are making money but they’re not. Winning races doesn’t necessarily mean making money. It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.” Spoken with impassioned white collar objectivity, this winner of 1,397 lifetime races and $8,128,454 in purse earnings still puts a human side on the dollars and cents. “I mean, I’d like to have a brand new tractor, horse trailer or harness bags but that all comes off the bottom line. So we don’t maybe have the newest harness and we do sometimes send horses to the gate with shavings in their tail, but the shoes are always on tight and the horses are always fit.”

When it comes to staying true to his roots, MacMillan’s grow deep into the grounds of Eastern Ontario racing. “I trained on the WEG circuit for two years back in the 80s but it didn’t feel like home. I saw a chance to get the horsemen’s association off the ground and from there we were able to have year round racing, and besides, I just missed racing at Rideau.”

On top of all this, MacMillan still finds time to give back to the racing community and beyond. As a director of the National Capital Region Harness Horse Association, he put his marketing skills to work, organizing great on-track promotions to benefit local charities. Rideau’s “Night of Champions,” which was held every summer, not only packed the tarmac and added to the nightly handle, but also raised thousands for the Shepherds of Good Hope mission. Sadly the end of the Slots-at-Racetracks program has evaporated the group’s budget for such events but MacMillan remains optimistic of the role his association has, as a voice for local horsepeople. “The NCRHHA’s role is less one of profit sharing since SARP disappeared. It’s now one of working with our partners at Rideau Carleton to help grow the business going forward. We have to make the most of what we have, and to that end we have just signed a new agreement with RCR which will secure live racing for the next two years.”

As for the current state of affairs surrounding Ottawa racing, “There’s no question the current environment is difficult for owners, trainers and drivers in this region but at least now there’s some stability.” He continues, shifting back to his business insights, “We had essentially reached rock bottom, but in order to stay in the business you have to adjust to meet the current model that is before us. The opportunity no longer exists to race as big a stable as when he ran 60 races a week. Now we have 22 races a week so we have all had to adjust our business model.”

Those challenges aside, MacMillan sees a bright future for Ottawa racing. Saying his feet are firmly planted in Eastern Ontario. “I’m never moving. The management and ownership at Rideau Carleton have racing first and foremost in their minds. I believe if there is a way for RCR to sustain its current structure or improve upon it, the ownership and management at Rideau Carleton will get the job done. The one thing we can count on is that ownership is in our corner.” It’s an apt boxing analogy for a man that, for the time being, will need a strong left arm as his leading punch.