Newsflash: Shark Week is not invincible.

For only the fifth time in his last 43 starts, Shark Week lost, finishing fifth in a nine-horse field at Century Mile on Saturday, Oct. 4.

His trainer, Rod Hennessy, is unshaken.

“No problem,” said Hennessy, who owns Shark Week with Lorne Duffield. “We’ll just start a new chapter next week.”

Hennessy said the gelding was fatigued late due to a one-month gap in his schedule.

“You can’t keep a horse fit if there is no racetrack. The end of August was his last start before Saturday,” said Hennessy. "He came out healthy and that’s what really matters.

“Leaving out of the eight-hole in a nine-horse field is really tough. That first turn is pretty sharp. You really have to wind them up from that post. The inside posts have a big advantage. Shark Week just got tired. Because of the track — they wound up taking off about a foot of sand — I wasn’t able too get a good training mile into him. He just wasn’t as ready as I expected.”

Compounding matters, Matteuse, who had the rail, parked Shark Week out through a first quarter in :26.4. Then, the eventual winner, Midnight Mover with driver James Jungquist, gave Shark Week’s regular driver Mike Hennessy little opportunity to slow down the pace. Quickly on the move from third down the backstretch, Midnight Mover advanced through the half in: 56 and pushed on the gas some more to three-quarters in 1:24. Shark Week was done, and Midnight Mover was gone.

“Shark Week is in deep waters,” was the call from track announcer Dylan Beardy.

With the final time of 1:50.4, Midnight Mover paced the last quarter in a sharp :26.4 and won by 2-1/4 lengths while Shark Week tired to fifth.

“I’m sure he’ll come back,” said Rod Hennessy of the seven-year-old, who's back in-to-go this Saturday (Oct. 11) at Century Mile. “That’s horse racing. We’ll go from there.”

How good has Shark Week been?

“He's the best horse I’ve ever had,” said the trainer, who has had a big handful of them, with more than 12,000 career starts. “He’s not just a good horse, he’s a great horse. He’s done things that no other horses around here have done.”

His pinnacle moment came on June 3, 2023, when he did something no other horse in Western Canada has done: break the 1:50 barrier. The son of Vertical Horizon-Shark Gone Bad won in a record 1:49.2 at Century Downs, pacing his last quarter in :26.4 and going wire-to-wire in an 8-3/4-length triumph. He lowered his own Western Canada record, a 1:50.1 clocking he produced a week earlier. That mile tied the mark set by All Over The Place at Stampede Park in 2005.

Shark Week has also won $536,070.

“That’s pretty good around here,” said Rod Hennessy.

Pretty good? The $536,070 Shark Week has earned is the second-most money ever won in Alberta by a harness horse. Only Tajma Hall, who won $743,905, earned more in the province.

Furthermore, Shark Week has won 63 races in Alberta. At one point, from May 6, 2023 to Apr. 27, 2024, he went unbeaten for 17 straight starts. In that span, he set the all-time track records at Century Downs and Century Mile. That’s domination.

The only horse on record with more consecutive wins in Western Canada is As Promised, who won 18 in a row from Sept. 6, 1992 to Mar. 14, 1993. That stallion also had a 17-race streak from October 1993 to May 1994.

How good are Shark Week's 63 wins in Alberta? Nobody has won more. Tajma Hall won 62 races in his career, two of which were in Ontario. As Promised was a 71-time winner, but only 60 came in Alberta.

Rod Hennessy said Shark Week has exceeded expectations.

“He’s done more than I ever asked him to do or more than I expected,” said Hennessy.

That’s especially true since Shark Week was purchased for just $6,000 at the ASHA Yearling Sale.

“I liked the look of the horse,” said Rod Hennessy of Shark Week, who was consigned by breeder Meridian Farms as Hip 36.

Hennessy also liked the breeding. By popular Vertical Horizon, who took a mark of 1:49.3, he said he liked Shark Week before he even saw him.

“His grand dam is Shark Fest. She raced for Keith Clark and Gigi Van Ostrand and was a really nice mare,” he said of the 10-time winner of 30 starts. ”I’m sure a lot of other horsepeople are still kicking themselves. But at a yearling sale, you cross your fingers and hope. Sometimes you get lucky. I got lucky. I got a hell of a buy.

“There’s no secret to buying good horses. You just have to get lucky. You don’t have to be smarter than everyone else. You just have to be luckier.”

Rod Hennessy said he likes his gelding's athleticism.

"He's an athlete," he said. "He’s even got the mind of an athlete. He knows when it’s a race day. He also does everything with a flair. He loves what he’s doing.”

Rod’s son Mike, who does all the driving for Shark Week, was asked in a previous post-race interview what it was like driving Shark Week. 

“It’s out of this world," he said. "I've driven a lot of really good horses that went on to other places and paced in [1]:48 or [1]:49 and they can't even [hold] a candle to this horse. It's a totally different animal. It's like driving a sports car — you can start him up, slow him down, start him up. Do whatever you want, he's going to do it for you.”

As good as Shark Week is, he gets just about anything he wants, including four feed tubs in his stall: one filled with alfalfa cubes, another has a special feed for ulcers that have probably been present since he was born, oats are in a third tub, and mixed feed is in the fourth one.

On top of that, he has a hay bag which he nibbles on.

“He eats all day, but just a little bit at a time. He’s a scrounger. He just goes from one tub to another.”

And then there are bananas and apples which he really loves.

He has other peculiarities, like enjoying a mid-morning nap.

“He just lays down and goes to sleep,” said Hennessy.

In summary, “he’s a freak of nature,” according to Rod Hennessy.

“I’ve never seen a horse that wants to pace fast like he does,” he said. “He absolutely loves going fast. We’ve all had a lot of fun with him. Except for the guys chasing him.

“He just loves life.”

(Curtis Stock / thehorses.com)