Search

JAMES MCDONALD

  • New Zealand

Jockey : JAMES MCDONALD after winning the Lexus Melbourne Cup.

Redemption has been a great driver for James McDonald.

After previously being a great apprentice in New Zealand and then twice winning the Sydney Premiership, the kiwi bounced back from a major setback to win it again in 2018/19.

In doing so, his 104 wins saw him the first rider to break the century since Darren Beadman's extraordinary number of 164 over a decade before.

Once the main jockey for Godolphin, he now gets plenty of Chris Waller's rides too. He was also the pilot for (It's A) Dundeel when he won the Triple Crown.

First Runner  01 Aug 2007
Dumbarton (NZ)  
Avondale (NZ)  |  Avondale Sunday Market Mdn
First Win  18 Aug 2007
Johnnie The Sand (NZ)
Te Rapa (NZ)  |  Empire Hotel Stratford Mdn
Best Horse :
VIA SISTINA  (Timeform Rating 132)
FASTNET ROCK (AUS)  NIGH (IRE)  [By GALILEO (IRE)]
First Group Win (G1):
SPECIAL MISSION  (05 Apr 2008)
TOWKAY (AUS)  TE AKAU TREK (NZ)  [By KHOZAAM (USA)]

JAMES MCDONALD's Career

Latest Rides

FP Date Course Runner Div Type Distance PM AUD $ Trainer Time
5 of 16 06 Sep 2025 RAND MILITARIZE $25 3U OPEN G2 1400m $300,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:22.38
2 of 12 06 Sep 2025 RAND LADY SHENANDOAH $1.6 3U OPEN G3 1000m $1,000,000 CHRIS WALLER 0:56.80
9 of 12 06 Sep 2025 RAND LAND LEGEND $20 3U OPEN G2 1600m $300,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:34.46
2 of 13 06 Sep 2025 RAND TUPAKARA $11 3F OPEN G2 1200m $300,000 ANNABEL & ROB ARCHIBALD 1:09.92
1 of 5 06 Sep 2025 RAND CHANGINGOFTHEGUARD $3.2 3U QLTY LR 2400m $201,000 KRIS LEES 2:30.85
1 of 10 06 Sep 2025 RAND DENMAN STAR $1.35 3U BM72 1400m $120,000 ANGELA DAVIES 1:23.60
3 of 14 05 Sep 2025 WYNG SNOW IN MAY $6 3UFM OPEN G3 1350m $251,700 JOHN O'SHEA & TOM CHARLTON 1:19.50
1 of 8 05 Sep 2025 WYNG SALTCOATS $0.9 3U QLTY LR 2100m $254,000 CHRIS WALLER 2:11.34
1 of 7 05 Sep 2025 WYNG NAPOLEONIC $0.55 3U MDN 1200m $60,000 JOHN O'SHEA & TOM CHARLTON 1:10.22
3 of 9 03 Sep 2025 W FM SHALAA GOLD $1.7 3U BM72 1000m $60,000 BJORN BAKER 0:57.23
View more

Trainer Statistics

Last 100 Runners
Career
Trainer Name Wins Win (%) Places Place (%) Rides PM AUD $ G1(w) G2(w) G3(w) LR(w) ROI
CHRIS WALLER 13 22.0% 21 57.6% 59 $2,374,900 1 0 2 2 $0.68
JOHN O'SHEA & TOM CHARLTON 3 42.9% 2 71.4% 7 $118,575 0 0 0 0 $1.35
KRIS LEES 3 75.0% 1 100.0% 4 $179,800 0 0 0 1 $2.21
BJORN BAKER 1 33.3% 1 66.7% 3 $37,400 0 0 0 0 $0.60
ANGELA DAVIES 1 100.0% 0 100.0% 1 $55,000 0 0 0 0 $2.35
JOHN & THADY GOSDEN 1 100.0% 0 100.0% 1 $235,421 0 1 0 0 $7.50
CIARON MAHER 0 0.0% 2 50.0% 4 $37,243 0 0 0 0 -
ARCHIE WATSON 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 3 $3,736 0 0 0 0 -
MICHAEL FREEDMAN 0 0.0% 2 100.0% 2 $58,400 0 0 0 0 -
SAEED BIN SUROOR 0 0.0% 2 100.0% 2 $188,543 0 0 0 0 -
ANNABEL & ROB ARCHIBALD 0 0.0% 1 100.0% 1 $56,000 0 0 0 0 -
JAMES CUMMINGS 0 0.0% 1 100.0% 1 $12,200 0 0 0 0 -
RICHARD LITT 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 $1,625 0 0 0 0 -
MICHAEL KENT 0 0.0% 1 100.0% 1 $14,000 0 0 0 0 -
GARY PORTELLI 0 0.0% 1 100.0% 1 $27,250 0 0 0 0 -
Trainer Name Wins Win (%) Places Place (%) Rides PM AUD $ G1(w) G2(w) G3(w) LR(w) ROI
CHRIS WALLER 470 21.1% 648 50.1% 2232 $106,810,044 48 33 40 25 $0.90
JOHN O'SHEA 233 20.5% 335 50.0% 1135 $24,423,571 9 17 26 15 $0.82
JAMES CUMMINGS 130 25.7% 159 57.1% 506 $31,544,855 17 14 11 6 $0.80
M, W & J HAWKES 71 23.4% 79 49.3% 304 $6,328,380 1 2 6 4 $0.97
DONNA & DEAN LOGAN 54 22.1% 76 53.3% 244 $1,810,936 1 2 1 2 $0.92
PETER & PAUL SNOWDEN 53 25.9% 56 53.2% 205 $9,390,210 2 6 8 7 $1.24
MARK WALKER 52 17.6% 82 45.3% 296 $959,475 0 2 1 3 $0.80
GRAEME & DEBBIE ROGERSON 40 24.4% 41 49.4% 164 $1,359,619 2 1 3 3 $1.18
JOHN SARGENT 40 24.7% 46 53.1% 162 $1,135,090 0 0 0 0 $0.83
BJORN BAKER 38 25.3% 45 55.3% 150 $2,277,710 0 0 2 0 $0.95
CIARON MAHER & DAVID EUSTACE 36 34.3% 25 58.1% 105 $7,511,850 0 3 7 3 $1.28
STEVEN RAMSAY & JULIA RITCHIE 35 21.1% 41 45.8% 166 $466,007 1 0 1 2 $0.85
RICHARD & CHRIS OTTO 34 18.5% 52 46.7% 184 $406,130 0 0 0 1 $0.82
KRIS LEES 26 14.4% 65 50.3% 181 $4,707,765 0 1 2 2 $0.62
SHAUNE RITCHIE 26 23.2% 31 50.9% 112 $717,716 2 3 0 1 $0.97

Seasons Summary Statistics

Season Wins Win (%) Places Place (%) Rides PM AUD $ G1(w) G2(w) G3(w) LR(w) ROI
2025/26 18 27.7% 27 69.2% 65 $2,435,425 1 0 2 2 $0.83
2024/25 133 23.2% 165 51.9% 574 $59,517,982 21 12 8 7 $0.80
2023/24 145 22.8% 175 50.4% 635 $56,338,690 19 10 8 12 $0.84
2022/23 151 21.2% 204 49.9% 711 $44,892,765 14 16 15 6 $0.82
2021/22 151 23.0% 212 55.3% 657 $37,122,106 11 9 16 9 $0.89
2020/21 163 24.7% 187 53.1% 659 $20,927,086 8 8 14 7 $1.04
2019/20 124 18.8% 187 47.1% 660 $18,700,637 6 13 9 4 $0.87
2018/19 143 20.8% 187 48.1% 686 $17,821,956 6 10 11 9 $0.80
2017/18 16 15.1% 27 40.6% 106 $1,137,307 0 1 1 0 $0.78
2016/17 34 21.0% 52 53.1% 162 $5,603,400 3 5 4 4 $0.80
Overall 2321 19.2% 3334 27.5% 12107 $330,530,267 120 122 143 104 $0.90