A famous neighbor helped move Dawson Blair into harness racing
by Matthew Lomon
To the harness racing world, James MacDonald stands among the sport’s most revered and respected figures.
To soon-to-be 17-year-old caretaker Dawson Blair, he was simply the guy who moved in next door.
“I knew his first name and that he was my neighbor, that was all,” Blair said. “It wasn’t until my grandpa said, ‘James MacDonald moved in beside you? He’s famous.’
“So, I looked him up on Google and it was like, ‘Holy! He is famous!’”
While the five-time O’Brien Award-winning reinsman’s arrival in Blair’s Guelph, ON, neighborhood didn’t initially stand out to the teenager — beyond the occasional backyard barbecue and friendly head nod — it would ultimately ignite a passion he never knew was within him.
“James reached out to my dad to ask if I’d want to come check out the horses someday, so one day I just went,” Blair said. “I had barely ever seen a horse in my life. My grandpa gambled at the track, but I’d never been.
“The first day, I didn’t know what I was doing; I was just petting horses. But then I thought, ‘Wow, I really like this.’ Then I came back and started cleaning stalls. I started from the bottom, but I enjoyed it and kept coming back.”
That eye-opening visit to First Line Training Centre in the summer of 2022 marked the springboard for Blair’s education in standardbred racing.
What started with petting progressed to cleaning stalls and then brushing, harnessing, and bathing in the months that followed.
Blair, who credits MacDonald and his wife, trainer Paige MacDonald, with laying the foundation of his horsemanship, remains grateful for the humble guidance of the future Hall of Famer.
“I think coming from where I didn’t know who he was helped me build a real connection with him,” Blair said. “It’s been an honor to learn from him. He’s famous and I’m learning all this stuff directly from him – it’s been amazing.
“Then he got me into the job that I have now, which really helped me learn a lot more. I still talk with him and he still helps me out.”
With his mentor always within arm’s reach, Blair’s life in racing has accelerated at light speed in his new role as caretaker for father-and-son, trainer-and-driver tandem Carl and Jody Jamieson.
It was through James that Blair got in touch with Jody, an earner of nearly $160 million in lifetime prizes, during weekend visits to First Line and the occasional racetrack meet-and-greet.
“One day Jody came by on the race bike and he yelled, ‘Hey, you want to come in on Sunday and clean a couple stalls for me?’” Blair said. “I said, ‘Sure, why not?
“I went in one day and worked with him on and off, just on weekends cleaning stalls, and then I went back to school. Then when that first summer came around, he asked if I wanted to come work for him and I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Blair’s 2023 summer vacation saw him divide his time between James, and Jody and Carl, each in one-week intervals, before eventually signing on with the Jamiesons full time.
“They’ve been amazing,” Blair said. “James taught me the basics, and they’ve taught me more of the advanced stuff like different equipment and vet work.”
The up-and-coming horseman never takes a day with the Hall of Famer, and harness racing encyclopedia in Carl, and future Hall of Famer and winner of 9,000-plus races in Jody, for granted.
“I try to pick Carl’s brain every day,” Blair said. “There’s always something he can teach me and I’m always willing to learn. I want to know everything that I can. Every day, he’ll teach me something new or he’ll show me how to do something. He never runs out of stuff. The same goes with Jody.
“There’s always something that I can learn, and I really appreciate it.”
Picking up each Jamieson’s teaching style, alongside the trade, has been equally valuable for Blair.
“Jody will go a bit slower, which is helpful, but I also like the way Carl does it because he’ll teach me something and then quiz me on it the next day, like ‘You remember how to do it?’ Most of the time my answer was, ‘Uh, no,’” Blair said, adding with a laugh, “Sometimes I’d even say to Jody, ‘Hey, so Carl showed me how to do this. I know he’s going to ask me about it tomorrow,’ and Jody would show me. I just wouldn’t tell Carl and say, ‘Yeah, I remember how to do it.’ But eventually I learned how to do it and started understanding things a lot easier.”
Blair’s time with Carl and Jody has remained consistent through the school year, as he was able to secure his position with the Jamiesons through a school-sanctioned co-op program.
With his guidance counselor very agreeable to the idea, Blair has been able to structure his days with greater flexibility.
During the summer, he wakes up between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m., and stays until the work is done.
“When I get there, I feed the horses and wait until they’re done eating,” Blair said. “I take care of the two I have a stake in, and another one named Paquet. Earlier, I took care of five, but now I help jog and train the rest of them, so it’s less horses, but then I’m on the track most days.
“Weekends, I’m usually in the barn more. It’s training day, so it’s nice and busy, and I like to stay in there and give everybody a hand where I can.”
When school is on, Blair leaves the barn around 11 a.m. to make sure he’s back in time for a pair of classes.
His schedule will remain predictable for the foreseeable future, as Blair will stick with the Jamiesons through summer and head back to school in the fall with his co-op already settled.
In the meantime, the knowledge-hungry apprentice will continue to hone his understanding of young horses.
“Last year, when we got all these babies, it was a really great learning experience for me because I didn’t know how to break a baby, or anything,” Blair said. “I learned a lot because it was every single day, one after another. We were up to almost 30 babies.”
Inside that group of youngsters were the pair of rookies that Blair purchased stakes in, Blazin Amazin and Rockstar Vibes.
While both have yet to race, each has supplied Blair with meaningful learning opportunities.
“I bought in 10 per cent on Blazin Amazin, and that helped me build a really nice connection with this horse because I’ve been with him all the way,” Blair said.
“Rockstar Vibes, I own 5 per cent because he was a bit pricier, but he got injured, so he’s been off a little while. Obviously, it’s unfortunate and you never want that to happen, but he’s still been able to teach me a lot. I had to change his bandages every day and give him his medication. Now he’s walking around and his stitches are out, so he’s making progress.”
For as much as Blazin Amazin and Rockstar Vibes have taught Blair, the most important lesson thus far has come from former Jamieson pacer, Fifth And Five.
“You want to get attached because you care about all the horses, but that makes it harder sometimes,” Blair said. “I got really attached to Fifth And Five; I got a tattoo of him and everything.
“Unfortunately, he was sold. They didn’t want to, but I think that one horse is what really kept me going. He taught me a lot, and I taught him a lot. It was a really great learning experience for me before I got my own.”
The last few years have been an enriching whirlwind for the young man who had rarely been around horses before an introduction from his superstar neighbor.
The influence and encouragement of James, Paige, Jody, Carl, and the countless people around him has guided Blair down a path he never foresaw for himself.
“I have such a great support system,” he said. “I can’t say enough about how much they’ve all taught me. But there’s so many people. Even the other people in the barn, the other grooms, they’ve all taught me something.
“I tell everybody when I first meet them, ‘I’m still learning, but if you see me doing something wrong or you have a different way of doing it, tell me, because I want to know. I want to know everything.’”
That eager mindset has Blair planning to follow in the footsteps of his mentors, and working his way into the race bike.
Until that day arrives, the high-schooler who found his passion with help from some of harness racing’s finest will continue to set the example for the next generation of horsepeople.
“If you really have something you enjoy, it can be hard sometimes,” he said. “There’s really high highs and really low lows, but if you love what you’re doing, you can do it for the rest of your life. I’d do it for the rest of my life if I can.
“If you like horses, then this is the business for you.”
