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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
2 of 8 01 Oct 2025 RHIL BURMA STAR $3.6 3U BM72 1200m $60,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:10.23
2 of 8 01 Oct 2025 RHIL SARRISMO $1.2 3U BM72 1400m $60,000 JOHN O'SHEA & TOM CHARLTON 1:23.19
1 of 10 01 Oct 2025 RHIL UNITED KINGDOM $4.5 3U BM72 1800m $60,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:49.46
4 of 8 01 Oct 2025 RHIL FULL HAO $18 3UFM BM72 1300m $60,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:17.40
9 of 13 01 Oct 2025 RHIL PERFECT APPLE $2.9 3 MDN 1200m $60,000 JOHN O'SHEA & TOM CHARLTON 1:10.26
4 of 8 01 Oct 2025 RHIL SARAPO $4.5 3 MDN 1400m $100,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:23.98
3 of 12 27 Sep 2025 RHIL POLYGLOT $2.8 3U BM78 1100m $160,000 MICHAEL FREEDMAN 1:02.57
1 of 10 27 Sep 2025 RHIL WATERFORD $6 3U QLTY G2 1500m $302,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:28.07
2 of 9 27 Sep 2025 RHIL WODETON $3.2 3 OPEN G1 1400m $1,036,300 CHRIS WALLER 1:20.79
3 of 10 27 Sep 2025 RHIL FIRESTORM $2.6 3UFM OPEN G2 1400m $403,000 CHRIS WALLER 1:22.12
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 20 33.3% 17 61.7% 60 $3,889,020 1 3 2 1 $1.07
JOHN O'SHEA & TOM CHARLTON 3 37.5% 3 75.0% 8 $136,575 0 0 0 0 $1.08
KRIS LEES 3 50.0% 1 66.7% 6 $186,425 0 0 0 1 $1.48
ANNABEL & ROB ARCHIBALD 1 33.3% 2 100.0% 3 $111,650 0 0 0 0 $0.65
RICHARD & WILL FREEDMAN 1 100.0% 0 100.0% 1 $20,550 0 0 0 0 $1.60
ANGELA DAVIES 1 100.0% 0 100.0% 1 $55,000 0 0 0 0 $2.35
MICHAEL FREEDMAN 0 0.0% 3 100.0% 3 $72,400 0 0 0 0 -
BJORN BAKER 0 0.0% 2 66.7% 3 $23,000 0 0 0 0 -
M, W & J HAWKES 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 2 $11,000 0 0 0 0 -
PETER SNOWDEN 0 0.0% 1 100.0% 1 $17,500 0 0 0 0 -
CHRIS & COREY MUNCE 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 $9,000 0 0 0 0 -
JOSEPH PRIDE 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 $2,350 0 0 0 0 -
GAI WATERHOUSE & ADRIAN BOTT 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 $6,100 0 0 0 0 -
BEN, WILL & JD HAYES 0 0.0% 1 100.0% 1 $7,200 0 0 0 0 -
JASON WARREN 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 - 0 0 0 0 -
Trainer Name Wins Win (%) Places Place (%) Rides PM AUD $ G1(w) G2(w) G3(w) LR(w) ROI
CHRIS WALLER 480 21.2% 656 50.2% 2261 $108,988,439 48 36 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 23.2% 79 49.0% 306 $6,339,380 1 2 6 4 $0.96
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 25.2% 46 55.6% 151 $2,291,710 0 0 2 0 $0.94
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 14.2% 65 49.7% 183 $4,714,390 0 1 2 2 $0.61
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 31 27.2% 42 64.0% 114 $4,838,170 1 3 2 2 $0.81
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 2334 19.2% 3349 27.6% 12156 $332,933,012 120 125 143 104 $0.90