Game Changers: Hasty Bid

September 16, 2025

TORONTO, September 16, 2025 – Once a week, throughout the Mohawk racing season, Woodbine will profile a horse who has had a life-changing impact on one of their closest connections.

This week, Canada’s top earning driver and Mohawk’s wins and earnings leader in 2025, James MacDonald, and his trusty, tireless trotter, Hasty Bid.

A $35,000 purchase at the 2021 Harrisburg Yearling Sale by MacDonald and his wife, trainer Paige MacDonald, the now 5-year-old bay has turned into an endless source of reward for the team that took a chance on him.

Hasty Bid (ON)

Foaled: March 31, 2020

Sire: My MVP

Dam: Sunshinenlollipops

Wins-Seconds-Thirds: 8-10-7

Earnings: $743,364

Trainer: Paige MacDonald

Owner: 1000063663 Ontario Inc., & Paige MacDonald

Breeder: Jeffery Ruch

What was it like forming a connection with Hasty Bid in the race bike?

“It was great. I got to form a connection with him all year training down, so I got to see him develop from being broke as a baby to racing in his first race. It's been pretty special.”

Was there a moment that told you he was going to be special?

“No, not really. He trained down pretty average, and then as a two-year-old, he qualified pretty well, but we still weren’t really sure what we had.

“I think it was maybe his second start at Mohawk, we raced him in an [Ontario Sires Stakes] Grassroots, and I moved him first over, and he was kind of working hard on the outside, and then when I asked him at the top of the stretch, he just erupted. I think that was the first moment, like, ‘Oh, maybe we have something here.’

“When he went down to the Meadowlands last year for the Graduate – it wasn't a final or a big race, but it was an elim of the Graduate – it rained a little bit, and I won in :51 with him, and the horses he beat, there were special names in there, some real good ones. To me, that was kind of cool, because you buy a horse, you hope to make a little money with him, but you don't ever expect to, one, win [OSS] Golds like he did, or big races, and then two, travel down to the Meadowlands, and do great things down there as well.”

Can you liken him to a particular athlete? If so, who and why?

“For him, it would be tougher because he's not the most gifted horse in the world, but he's got a huge heart, and he tries really hard. He doesn't blow you away with speed or raw ability, he’s just a hard-nosed horse that always shows up when the money's down and finds ways to make his owner, trainer, and driver look good.

“I’d say he’s like an overachiever, a Zach Hyman type. He’s not Connor McDavid but he finds ways to do great things with what he’s got. Not to take anything away from Zach Hyman, he’s a great player and a hard-working, hard-nosed type guy.”

“Three words to describe him?

“Tough. Angry. Fun.”

How has he changed your life?

“I never really thought we would have a horse like him – small owners, we trained him ourselves at two and three, and a lot this year, and a little bit last year. He changed our life in the sense that knowing if you work hard on a nice horse and treat him right, he can pay you back. And he changed our life by making lots of money as well. That never hurts.

“I always say when people ask me if he’s a nice horse, ‘He’s the gift that keeps on giving.’”

Matthew Lomon, for Woodbine