“I know what the official rankings say and it is a great honour, but for me, the advantage of a title like that is it opens doors,” the 31-year-old told the Herald.
“I remember coming up here a few years ago, because I love this meeting so much, and having just three rides for the week.
“Now to have so many rides here is a real privilege but the standard of riding and horses here is so high, you have to really be on your game.
“And the fields are often so big, there are a lot of winning chances, so it is a very hard place to win a race.”
While the Royal meeting at Ascot has become a bucket list destination for many Australasian racing fans, especially as horses from Down Under are now almost regular visitors, it comes at what is effectively the off-season for many in our racing industry.
So while many contemporaries are enjoying their winter break, McDonald has to refocus to a world-class level.
“I’ll be honest, a month ago, I was getting a little tired because it is a long season,” says McDonald.
“But it isn’t hard to get up for this week. It is Ascot, it is a very special place and a special race meeting, and I love it.
“It was a place I wanted to one day excel at from very early in my career so to be comfortable riding here, which I am these days, it is a great feeling.”
It also helps that while McDonald has some high-profile rides this week he is, for once, not the star of the show.
“There are so many great riders at this meeting and you have a guy like Frankie [Dettori] riding at maybe his last Ascot, so the stage is really set for him.”
McDonald now sees rivals such as Dettori and Ryan Moore as equals but the Ascot jockeys’ room is not the place for high fives and idle chat.
“For this meeting, everybody has their game face on right from the start,” he says.
“Winning a race here means so much to everybody — the jockeys, trainer and owners — that it is very a very focused environment for the week, but yes, guys like Ryan and Frankie are friends now.”
McDonald does almost all his own form research for this week’s meeting, starting two months ago when he was confirmed or in the running for the Coolangatta and Artorius rides.
“Once the bookies open a market, you have a fair idea who could be starting and there are only so many races that horses this good will probably line up in.
“So I keep an eye on the other horses in the market and check out most of the major sprint races that could have a formline to these races.”
So what does he expect from his two biggest rides of the week?
“Coolangatta will be very hard to beat, because the way I look at it, most of her opponents would struggle to win two Group 1s in Australia like she has. In saying that, it is a different situation to Nature Strip this time last when he was a proven older beast of a horse.
“He bolted in and I don’t think this filly can do that, but if she races up to her best, then she is the one to beat.”
One slight concern is whether Coolangatta will get a little revved up in her parade, as Ascot is an explosion of colour and noise, but while she trialled below her best in Melbourne before her trip, she gave McDonald a pleasing feel in trackwork last Wednesday.
For all that, he thinks Artorius on Saturday may be his best ride of the week, as he looks stronger and more able to take a tactical position than this time last year, when he finished third equal in the same race.
“Two of his key rivals for Saturday are also likely to be in the Kings Stand on Tuesday and may not back up on Saturday, so he is going to be very hard to beat.”
