Jody Jamieson stood at the top of the hill. Over his left shoulder, the Elliott family’s majestic red barn stood sentinel over Clinton Raceway, as it has for generations, as both the sun and the crowd began a slow saunter to the exits on another tremendous Legends Day.
The Ontario-based driver had left the National Driving Championship (NDC) trophy and the Canadian flag he had excitedly wrapped around himself for the photographers back in the winner’s circle, but the adrenaline was still flowing with the same intensity.
“I’m actually super pumped,” Jamieson said about standing atop the hill of Canadian harness racing drivers on Sunday (July 26) after squeaking out a four-point victory in the Standardbred Canada event against seven reinsmen from the nation’s four primary racing jurisdictions – the West, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic.
It was Jamieson’s third national championship to go with the ones he won in 2011 and 2014. He is also a two-time winner of the World Driving Championship (2001 and 2011).
But the experience of winning another Canadian title, this time at magical Clinton Raceway with a large family continent on hand, was just as impactful, if not more so.
Jamieson will turn 50 in November, and he understands these moments are becoming increasingly fleeting, despite a career that boasts over 9,000 wins and nearly $160 million in purse earnings; the vast majority of which garnered at Woodbine Entertainment Group tracks.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d get another chance at it,” he said of competing in the world championship. “I had a really great year last year, and it felt like it was a breakthrough year for me. I started it off again this summer doing well with stakes horses and babies. It just feels good. I feel like I’m back and I feel good. I feel hungry. I just want to win. I think I can win [the world championship] again.”
Jamieson said he was so motivated to stand atop the NDC podium that he came to Clinton earlier in the track’s season primarily to get to know the horses better.
“I specifically came [to race at Clinton] at the start of the season, just a couple of days, a couple of Sundays, just to get a feel for the horses around, and it really helped in my drafting process,” Jamieson said of the Standardbred Canada formula for the NDC that allows drivers to have some say in who they will drive. “I love the draft format. I know I’ve been pretty fortunate in it, but I also do love it. I think it’s the fairest way to go. In the race when I was picking first, that horse finished dead last today. So, you have to get lucky as well as be good and have good picks in your draft.”
In the end, Jamieson earned 60 points thanks to two wins, a second and two thirds in the eight-race competition. Stéphane Brosseau of the Quebec / East Ontario region was second with 56 points, followed by Marc Campbell of PEI with 54 points. Tyler Borth, Ontario’s other representative, finished fourth with 50 points.
That Canada will play host to the 2027 World Driving Championship, and will be represented both by Jamieson and defending world champion James MacDonald, has the former already looking forward to next summer.
“It will be Canadian racing,” Jamieson said. “Any other time I’ve represented Canada and gone to another country, I didn’t really know the horses and didn’t really know the style. It takes a while to get going, but I think in the worlds, James and I should be off like rockets early. We should have a good idea about the horses, especially when we come through the middle of the competition [in Ontario] and when we get into PEI.”
Carl Jamieson (left) and Wally Hennessey signing autographs at Legends Day on July 26, 2026 at Clinton Raceway.
Yes, he was looking ahead, but Jamieson, a fourth-generation horseperson, was also trying to savour the moment that came the same day Clinton feted a long list of legendary horsepeople enshrined in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Collectively, that group of legends – which includes Jamieson’s father, Carl – has won over 70,000 races and earned nearly $1.2 billion as drivers or trainers.
“To win [the National Driving Championship] the same day that my dad drove in the Legends Day race as a Hall of Famer, I think it’s just amazing, just an awesome, awesome time,” Jody said.
He was still talking a mile a minute like a man that still loves this game like no other.
Clearly, Jody Jamieson was loving the view from the top of the hill.