By Mike Dillon
Brett McDonald tried desperately to make a call to New Zealand from Los Angeles Airport on Saturday.
He wanted to punt Adipose David in the TV Guide Northern Hurdles at Ellerslie.
A fist full of dollars off the tote was the next best thing to where he should have been - on Adipose David's back winning New Zealand's biggest hurdle race.
Missing the winning ride and not being able to make telephone contact from California were disappointments that didn't even rate alongside McDonald's delight in winning a jumping race in Maryland this week after being given an emergency call from an injured US-based Kiwi horseman Craig Thornton.
"If someone had asked me last week what my biggest disappointment in racing was, I'd have said not having ridden a winner in America.
"I've won races everywhere I've been, in Italy, Germany, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, but in four previous rides in America I'd had only a couple of seconds."
McDonald suffered no ill effects from the crash he had from the last of his three rides for Sanna Nelson, the trainer and Thornton's partner.
It was at the New York's famed Belmont racetrack on Thursday and McDonald says he should have won it on Action Man.
"He was four lengths off the leader at the third-last fence and coming into the race. He jumped the fence okay, but forgot to put his feet down."
McDonald rates the American-bred Action Man an outstanding horse. "He'd be a real chance to win a race like the English Grand National."
McDonald arrived home yesterday morning following a tough flight from New York and having to recover from the jolt of being told by a stranger in the airport that Adipose David had won.
He spent yesterday trying to relax and focus on winning New Zealand's greatest jumping race, today's $100,000 Mercedes-Benz Northern aboard two-time winner Sydney Jones.
He would have preferred to see it raining to bring the old bloke's seemingly bottomless reserves of stamina into play, but says the 1995 and 1997 winner can do it again regardless.
"He's the best he's felt in three years. He's slow as we know and his chances lie solely in his ability to stay in contention.
"If he's within striking distance with a round to go, he can win it. He's a grand old horse, he's as tough as boots and I'm happy to be on him."
McDonald doesn't need too many tips on winning big races these days, but just in case he went down to the back paddock of his Cambridge training property yesterday to have a quiet word with the 1991 former Ken Browne-trained Northern Steeplechase winner Brother Bart.
"He's my wife's hunter these days and he's a lovely quiet old fella. He leads the young horses around the track for their first look.
"It shows there's life for horses after winning the Northern."
Maybe life for a three-time winner.
Horse Racing: Sydney and Brett worth a bet
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