by Bob Heyden

Thirty years ago marked the end of Cam’s Card Sharks spectacular 1994 season where he went 15-2-0 from 18 starts and set the new all-time single season’s record of $2.264 million. That record had been established an incredible three times in the prior four seasons with Beach Towel in 1990 becoming the first double millionaire, then HOY Precious Bunny bettering that in 1991 and then Presidential Ball tipping past $2.2 million in 1993, the first ever into that territory.

Cam’s Card Shark first started on April 9 and ended on Sept. 3, less than five full months. His finale was not supposed to be that, but he came up lame two weeks later warming up for the Jug and never did compete again.

If you don’t either remember or know much about Cam’s Card Shark, this is what now matters most: His son from crop #3, Bettors Delight, was born on May 4, 1998.

OTHER FAMOUS FINALES

• Cardigan Bay on Sept. 14, 1968 at Freehold when he tipped past $1 million in career earnings. It was never done previously.

• Donato Hanover had 19-straight wins at 2 and 3 combined entering his final career weekend in 2007 at The Meadowlands but could only manage 2nd and 3rd with Arch Madness emerging victorious both times. Because of the improbable double defeat, the 2007 HOY fell a couple bucks shy of $3 million lifetime.

• Somebeachsomewhere on Nov. 29, 2008, wound up his brilliant career with a 1:48.3 Breeders Crown score and a new $2.44 single-season pacing record which stands today. That night was also the only race card ever, anywhere, that had both Muscle Hill (2YOCT winner) and Somebeachsomewhere on it together.

• Valley Victory won the 1989 Yonkers Trot in mid-July and nobody knew that would be it. A virus kept him from entering the Hambletonian in the dead-heat year and he was soon syndicated for $3 million.

• Cam Fella in 1983 he called it a career on Dec. 10 leaving with a new money record edging past Niatross and Rambling Willie. The last pacing male to go back-to-back as HOY he may even have topped himself as a stallion, living to 2001, with a stat that defies belief. He had a double millionaire from his first crop, Camtastic, and a triple millionaire from his last, Eternal Camnation.

• Always B Miki would up his career in November 2016 taking the TVG in style. Though he didn’t set any earnings records, he and Wiggle It Jiggleit had a fierce rivalry and their 1-2 finish in the HOY balloting marked the only time in the 21st century that the top two HOY finishers competed against each other.

• Bonefish, 49 years ago, remains the last Hambletonian winner (1975) to never to race again! He was entered again yes, but was scratched and that was that.

• Beach Towel romped in the Nov. 2, 1990 Breeders Crown in 1:51.2 at Pompano and called it a career. His first crop as a stallion yielded none other than Jennas Beach Boy. Ray Remmen remains the last driver/trainer of a male pacer named HOY.

• Glidemaster won the richest Yonkers Trot up to that point, $728,930, in 2006, wrapped up the Triple Crown, and solidified HOY honors. His single season of $1.9 million would only last a couple of seasons as Deweycheatumnhowe, Muscle Hill, and Market Share all surpassed $2 million in the following half dozen years.

• Niatross ended his unbelievable 1980 season at Pompano Park on Dec. 27. An overflow crowd saw the two-time HOY romp en route to extending his bankroll to $2.019 million, the sports very first double millionaire. Five years minus a month later and his son Nihilator would wave adieu at Garden State Park on Nov. 29 in the second year of the Breeders Crown and his effortless score made him the sports first $3-million earner.

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER

Was there such a thing as a September Hambletonian? Oh, yes. Ten times as a matter of fact. The first was due to a week of never-ending rain in 1927 that made Syracuse hand off to The Red Mile on Sept. 27, 1927 and watch as the first ever filly Iosola’s Worthy, took home the cheese. There’d be a 32-year gap until the next September Classic, the 1959 edition in DuQuoin.

The last time a September Hambletonian took place was 1979 on the first of the month with Legend Hanover taking first prize in the second-to-last ever DuQuoin Hambletonian. (Trivia buff alert: Corinne Tripp was the first female caretaker ever listed on a Hambletonian winner in 54^th edition).

The last four-heat Hambletonian also was a September event. The 4th of September 1976, three days after a place named The Meadowlands opened its doors, Steve Lobell somehow survived the grueling day 14-1-4-1 in summary over Zoot Suit 1-6-2-2 and Armbro Regina 17-2-1-3. Four heats were later abolished in 1978.