It has been announced that Cams Card Shark passed away peacefully at Hanover Shoe Farms today (Thursday, July 2, 2020) at the age of 29.

When he passed, Cams Card Shark was with the people that loved him, including Hanover Shoe Farms Farm Manager Patti Murphy, who has been with him since he retired to stallion duty, first in New Jersey and then Pennsylvania. Cams Card Shark was retired from stallion duty in 2014 and lived his remaining years in the stallion barn at Hanover.

Cams Card Shark took his record of 1:50 at age three and raced to $2,498,204 in purse earnings. He was the Dan Patch Horse of The Year in 1994 and was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2007. Cams Card Shark’s major wins include the North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace, New Jersey Classic, Messenger Stakes, The Adios, Berry’s Creek, James Dancer Memorial, Art Rooney Pace and The Miller Memorial. He was scratched as the overwhelming favourite to win the Little Brown Jug and never raced again -- but the story just starts there.

Cams Card Shark started his stallion career at Hanover Shoe Farms of New Jersey in 1995 and moved to Pennsylvania in 2012 where he stood his last two seasons at Hanover’s main farm in Pennsylvania. Cams Card Shark sired 1,829 foals that earned a total of $150,458,259 in purses. His most notable performers include the double millionaires Bettors Delight p,3,1:49.4 ($2,581,461), Shark Gesture p, 1:48.1 ($2,818,021), Four Starzzz Shark p 1:47.4 ($2,537,267), Royalflush Hanover p,3 1:49.3 ($2,153,483), and the one-time co-fastest pacer of all time, Holborn Hanover p,1:46.4 ($2,070,640). Cams Card Shark’s daughters have produced the winners of $117,543,368, including the performers A Rocknroll Dance p.1:47.2 ($2,429,411) and Heston Blue Chip p,3, 1:48f ($1,7881,881).

“If he had only sired Bettors Delight, who is unarguably one of the greatest stallions the business has ever seen, he would have left his mark, however he did so much more," said Hanover’s Dr. Bridgette Jablonsky. "'Shark' was a great racehorse and an even greater stallion. He was as tough and gritty a horse as you could know. It was, of course, a sad day here, but he had a great life and we were blessed to have had him for as long as we did.”

Owners Jeff and Paula Snyder were understandably sad when they received the news. “He changed our lives," said Jeff. "He was really the start of my career in harness racing and the horse that got Paula interested in racing. We really appreciate everything he did for us and take comfort in the fact that he had such a long and happy retirement at the only home he knew after racing.”

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Cams Card Shark.

(Hanover Shoe Farms)