Rewind: Cam Fella Wins The Messenger

In this week's edition of Rewind Robert Smith takes readers back in time to some 38 years ago. The year was 1982 and a horse nicknamed "The Pacing Machine" Cam Fella and his trainer-driver Pat Crowe were having quite a year. Only rarely do we get to see what a horse the likes of Cam Fella brought to the sport. Thankfully quite a bit of that year was captured by various means, allowing us to relive it again and again.

Cam Fella glides to another win for driver Pat Crowe during the 1982 season. That year as a three-year-old, Cam scored an amazing 28 wins. A look at the crowd shows just how popular harness racing's top performer was.

In 1982 a couple of guys named "Norm" (Clements and Faulkner), the co-owners of this horse, couldn't stop smiling to save themselves. They had shelled out a "nice piece of change" to purchase a promising three-year-old colt in hopes of having a good year. Fans travelled by the busload to see this dynamic duo of Cam Fella and Pat Crowe wherever they appeared. To pick out one race of the 28 that this horse won that year and say it was the best would be an impossible task. To avoid that calamity I just picked one that not only featured the wonder horse but also included a ton of Canadian connections all in the same event. (See summary below)

On the evening of October 16, 1982 the entire world of harness racing had its eyes focused on Roosevelt Raceway. It was the scene of that year's Messenger Stake, the third and final jewel of Pacing's Triple Crown. While there would be no triple Crown winner that year, there was yet another great race brewing for Cam Fella. His connections had skipped the Little Brown Jug but decided to invest $25,000 to throw their hat in the ring for both the Cane and now The Messenger. At this point in time they already knew that it was a wise move as back on June 19th "The Pacing Machine" had won the Cane in convincing fashion. They had high hopes that the next $25,000 investment would work out as well.

A field of 12 were entered for this year's Messenger, thus requiring eliminations. The fact that for one price of admission you could see three-year-olds of this calibre race three times on the same evening was a dream come true for many in attendance. With one of them being Cam Fella, the experience was even greater. When the final was contested the fans were truly focused on the outcome of the race but no one held a winning ticket as it was a non-betting affair.

Cam Fella's 1:57.3 in his elimination heat equaled the Roosevelt Raceway's record for three-year-old colts, set by Jonquil Hanover in 1977. Off at odds of just paying 30 cents on the dollar the understandably heavy favourite was certain to create some low mutuel payoffs. But in an unpredictable upset in the second elimination that did not come true. As it turned out there were a lot of happy Canadians in the stands after the two elimination races. A busload of Toronto fans who came down to watch Cam Fella got a bonus with the triumph of 9-1 choice Sokys Atom over Icarus Lobell in the second race. Sokys Atom, an Albatross colt, was owned by the Soky Farms of Toronto and driven by Doug Brown.

If they chose to play a Canadian double, the happy visitors started the evening with a $94.20 windfall. Although Icarus Lobell returned only $2.60 for $2, Sokys Atom fattened the double pot and paid off $20 to win as well. If Icarus Lobell had won the second race, the daily double payoff would have matched the lowest ever at Roosevelt Raceway, $3.40 in 1944. And for most of tonight's second elimination, that seemed a good possibility. Sokys Atom went a terrific mile in the second elim for Doug Brown and ended up defeating Icarus Lobell by six lengths.

As expected, Cam Fella and Pat Crowe captured the 1982 Messenger Final, repelling challenges from Armbro Aussie, Merger and a late charge from Icarus Lobell for the 1:59 victory. For his evening's work Cam Fella earned $90,852 for a season total of $789,724. This was the most money won that year by any active Standardbred (the leader, Fortune Teller, retired with $1,313,375) and enabled Cam Fella to pass Lemhi Gold ($722,575) for third place among both thoroughbreds and standardbreds. Perrault remained the top thoroughbred with season earnings of $1,197,400.

In the Messenger eliminations and final, a total of nine Canadian-born drivers participated in at least one of the three races. A fourth place finish in each of the eliminations by Glen Garnsey and George Sholty was the best any non-Canadian driver could do that night. When Pat Crowe had two entries in the final he opted for the drive behind Cam Fella (quite a choice) and called upon yet another Canadian, Bud Gilmour, to handle Armbro Andy. It is unlikely that you would find this many Hall of Fame members all in the same race.

Chart courtesy of U.S.T.A.

Driver Pat Crowe casts a glance at his nearest rival as a huge crowd at Roosevelt Raceway watches him guide Cam Fella to victory

Cam Fella poses with Norm Clements (left) co-owner, Pat Crowe trainer-driver and Norm Faulkner (right) co-owner. This 1982 photo followed the announcement that he had just been named U.S. Horse Of The Year. Unfortunately I am unable to identify the dog at the left who seems quite interested in the proceedings.

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