Ethan MacLean can stay pumped while remembering to stay calm

by Chris Lomon

Ethan MacLean could have been easily frustrated by how his day seemed to be playing out, but he opted for calm over agitated.

On June 14 at Inverness Raceway, his Jgsjumanji finished second as the 7-5 choice in the fourth dash, while stablemate J Gs Fireball suffered an equipment break. There was little time to dwell on either result, though.

The fifth race was next, and MacLean had a 5-year-old bay mare named Stay Pumped in to go.

“You learn pretty fast that you have to shrug things off — you really have no choice,” MacLean said. “It can sting when things don’t go as you hoped they would, but you need a short memory in this business. So, I moved on pretty fast.”

His father Travis would be in the race bike for the $1,500-purse event.

“She came to me from [trainer] Michael Gillis,” Ethan said. “I had finally got everything associated with my trainer’s license sewn up in the spring, and I was excited to have her come in from Ontario. It took a while for her to adjust to the new track, but then she just clicked in.”

Sent on her way as the 7-5 favorite, Stay Pumped, who was third at the quarter, had moved into second through the half and was 1½ lengths behind the leader through three-quarters in 1:29.4.

By the stretch call, the daughter of Stay Hungry was a quarter-length in front and full of pace.

At the wire, she was 3¼ lengths clear of her closest rival.

“It’s hard to explain the feeling I had when she crossed the finish line,” Ethan said. “It meant more that my dad was driving her, too. She did it pretty easily, so there wasn’t a lot of drama at the end.

“Dad and I have watched the race a few times since that day, just throwing it on the television at home and reliving it. It was awesome.”

Ethan hasn’t missed a beat since that win.

His horses have hit the podium in over half of their starts, his UTRS is chugging along around .400 and he’s winning at a 26 per cent clip.

“I didn’t have too many high expectations for myself,” he said. “I have been very lucky with the horses this first year. The goal was to just be consistent regardless of how many starters I had.”

His path into harness racing was hardly unexpected.

Ethan has been around racetracks and barns since he was able to walk.

“I have been sitting in a jog cart since my feet could reach the stirrups — probably before that — and spent a lot of time around the horses,” he said. “I knew early on in my life that I was going to be part of this harness racing business.”

Two generations of his family have been involved in racing, and several relatives remain in the business.

“There is still family who are in it, like Wayne MacLean, who is training in Ontario, and then Paul MacLean, who drove at Sudbury Downs when that was still going,” Ethan said. “Dion MacLean, my first cousin, was there at Sudbury, too.

“My dad worked with [trainer] Kevin McMaster. My grandfather was part of the racing scene across the Maritimes, racing in a lot of the big stakes races.”

Advice has been plentiful from his racing relatives, all of it helpful in some fashion.

One lesson from Ethan’s father, in particular, continues to shape how he approaches his horses every morning.

“A horse can read a person pretty good,” Ethan said. “If you are going out with a horse, whether you’re sitting behind them or walking with them, they feed off of that. You have to make sure the horse is happy and comfortable. Every time I take a horse to the track, I remember what my dad says, ‘Stay calm with them.’ That has been a quote for so many years.”

A former standout athlete — he played AAA hockey and starred in track and field — Ethan has enjoyed the transition from being the one competing to being the one who conditions the athletes.

Finding the key to each horse is now his competition.

“I was always big into hockey and other sports, so I drifted away from racing for a little bit,” he said. “But I was always training down colts for my father. And to be back in it now, to work with the horses, and finding the keys to unlocking their potential… it’s a great feeling to work with them and bring out the best in them.

“Nothing compares to the work you have to put into the horses. It’s demanding, but it is absolutely rewarding.”

Ethan, who has two broodmares, three racehorses, and a colt-in-training, is focused on building a steady operation through the rest of the year and into the future.

Some of his short-term goals are tied to his home track in Inverness.

“I’d like to surpass the $15,000 mark in purse earnings there with a couple mares I’m training and a colt I have, who is on the way up, but ran into a few issues,” he said. “I’d like to be in the mix as one of the top trainers at Inverness.”

In the longer term, Ethan has his sights set west, specifically, testing the racing waters in Ontario at some point.

If it indeed becomes a reality, he might add a new element to his repertoire.

“I’d like to try things in Ontario and that’s where I’d like to start up the driving side of my career,” he said. “I just want to keep pushing things forward, but doing it at the right pace, where I am continuing to learn and expanding my knowledge.”

Ethan isn’t looking to rush what might be next for him.

And whenever the pressures inevitably come, he knows exactly how he will approach it.

“Like my dad always says, ‘Stay calm,’” Ethan said. “That is something that I think will stay with me for as long as I’m in racing.”