It seemed inevitable that it would happen. After numerous operations to combat a persistent testicular cancer, Cam Fella was gelded last month (March 1997), ending a meteoric rise to the very top of the stallion ranks, and completing one of the final chapters in his biography. One of the most popular characters in the history of the sport, Cam will now be embarking on another mission, as he is being prepared for a whistle-stop tour across North America later this year. No doubt, the "Pacing Machine" will leave in the wake of his tour an even larger number of admirers. This month we'll remember briefly Cam Fella's brilliant racing career, and look at the impact he has had on the sport - from only 10 crops of racing age.
It's hard to believe that over fifteen years have passed since I first saw Cam Fella. But it was Boxing Day of 1981 that the 2-year-old son of Most Happy Fella - Nan Cam - Bret Hanover won the $19,600 Valedictory Series Final over a group of 3-year-olds. I remember thinking "That's a nice little 2-year-old", and wondering what being a "ridgeling" meant.
Doug Arthur co-owned, trained and drove the diminutive colt in those early days, but not for long. By mid-January, 1982, Cam Fella had been sold to Norm Clements and Norm Faulkner, and would race the next two years in the Pat Crowe Stable. And race he did.
Cam Fella won his first 11 starts in 1982, before being interfered with in the $300,000 Los Alamitos Spring Championship, his richest race to that point. Cam rebounded to win the Cane Pace, Messenger, Confederation Cup, and Prix DíEte, among others, and finished his sophomore season with 28 wins in 33 tries, good for $879,723 - despite not having qualified for the Meadowlands Pace, and being ineligible for the Little Brown Jug. Cam Fella raced against such standouts as No Nukes, Temujin, Merger, Icarus Lobell, McKinzie Almahurst and Soky's Atom, yet was the betting favorite in all but five of his starts. His accomplishments earned him Horse of the Year honors for 1982.
In 1983, Cam Fella began his season in somewhat unspectacular form. In his first eight starts, he only managed a 2-4-2 tally, and was defeated three times straight by Perfect Out (the only horse to beat him more than once). However, the Pacing Machine pounced back to win his last 28 races consecutively over the next eight months. Cam Fella finished the year with a summary of 36 - 30-4-2 ($1,144,056), and in his final start eclipsed Rambling Willie as the sport's all-time money winner, with $2,041,367. For the second straight year, Cam Fella was named the Harness Horse of the Year.
It is worth remembering that Cam Fella was never seen as a particularly fast horse, although his race-times are credible. Many of his competition held faster race records (remember Its Fritz?). But Cam Fella never gave up. Even early in his 3-year-old year, he was collared at the head of the lane, and appeared destined to lose ... only to fight back, and draw away in the stretch. It is worthy of note that Cam Fellaís mark (p, 4, 1:53.1) was taken in a dead-heat. Presumably, if Walt Hanover had not pushed him to it, Cam Fella would have had an even slower life-mark!!
The Performers Right from the beginning, Cam Fellaís ability to be a successful commercial stallion was in question. A ridgeling, he suffered complications from having an undescended testicle, and was bred to a limited book of 93 mares, which resulted in only 63 foals.
But what he lacked in quantity, he more than compensated for in quality. That first crop would include the great Camtastic, voted 2-year-old pacer of the year in 1987, and Cam Fellaís first $2,000,000 winner and sub-1:50 performer.
In the years to follow, Cam Fella would add many more divisional-leading colts to the list: Goalie Jeff (1989); Precious Bunny (1991); Presidential Ball (1992 and 1993); Cam's Card Shark (1994) - among these, Precious Bunny and Camís Card Shark would also be named Horse of the Year in their respective seasons. And, Camís Card Shark, Presidential Ball, and Precious Bunny all hold the distinction of having earned more than $2M in a single season!!
In addition, Cam Fella colts have won four Little Brown Jugs ... four Meadowlands Pace finals ... and four North America Cups - among a host of top stakes events. And, they have demonstrated a marked ability to "race on" in the aged categories. Cam Fella has produced 12 million-dollar winners, and five $2M+ winners. Only No Nukes (with three) has produced more than one double millionaire.
One of the early "knocks" against Cam Fella was that he allegedly could not produce good race-fillies, and Camís first four crops perhaps could support this statement. In those crops, he produced a number of good fillies, but no stand-outs. That all changed in 1990, when Camís Exotic p, 2, 1:54f hit the track. In 1991, Camorous and Camís Secretary answered the call, and continued to race successfully for several seasons. And in 1992, Cammies Lady and Cinnamon Reel placed the early assumptions in serious jeopardy.
In 1993, the great but ill-fated Ellamony swept 3-year-old honors before going on to a stellar career in the aged mare division, earning $1.3M before her death in the summer of 1996. Camorous would finish her career with $800,000+ hard-fought earnings ... Cammies Lady continues to race as a 7-year-old and sports over $600,000 on her card. And C.R. Daniella was the 2-year-old filly pacer of 1994, yet continues to add to her $600,000+ earnings as we speak.
Clearly, Cam Fella has been a dominant sire - of fillies and colts - virtually since the start of his abbreviated career as a stallion. It's not over yet, as he has a good-sized crop of 2-year-olds (90 or so) in 1997 ... and a small crop (50-ish) of yearlings this year. But in this case, the "light at the end of the tunnel" - was a train, in the form of cancer.
This can be a fickle sport sometimes. If it doesn't happen today - now - forget it. Just look at the great stallions that have been shipped overseas because people never had the virtue of patience - Speedy Somolli ... Supergill ... Bonefish on the trotting side; and Jaguar Spur ... French Chef ... and scores of others from pacing-dom.
When Camtastic stood stud, he was expected to dominate with his first crop. He didn't, and before you could say "Timbuctu", Camtastic was relegated to Ohio, and declared a failure at stud. Nothing could be further from the truth of course, as evidenced by his two 1:55 2-year-olds last year, and this years almost unbeatable Cami Whitestocking.
Goalie Jeff became the next "hopeful" to carry on the Cam Fella line. He has been a very good New York sire, and has also produced some Grand Circuit winners, particularly among fillies. Yet he too is seen as a "failure". As a good friend of mine used to say, "what do you want for a buck - a bullfight?". Sometimes the all-or-nothing attitude that permeates the sport can be tiring.
Precious Bunny has certainly been a top sire of recent years, and stands in the top-10 in a variety of categories (percentage speed, average earnings per starter etc.), from crops of 70-90 foals. And, a group of Camluck offspring cut a swath through the Ontario Sires Stakes as 2-year-olds in 1996.
Cambest has had huge books of mares to him over the past few years, giving him a good chance to make an impact with his first crop this year. And, the Presidential Balls are highly thought of as I write this. In addition, Camís Card Shark yearlings are reported to be good-lookers, so the jury is still out (or should be) with respect to Cam Fella's prepotency.
Clearly though, any one of a number of Cam sons could give us a world champion, and further the Cam Fella legacy. We'll see.
If Cam Fella mares never did anything more than they have already done, Cam Fella could still be legitimately categorized as a successful broodmare sire. After, Jennas Beach Boy p, 4, 1:47.3 is the fastest race horse in the sport's history. And, Paige Nicole Q p, 3, 1:52 has been a leading filly performer the past two years. (Interestingly, both of these performers were by Beach Towel - maybe a "nick" there).
But Cam Fella mares have also produced Oye Vay p, 3, 1:50.3 ($800,000+), the fastest Albatross 3-year-old since Three Wizards six years ago, among scores of other top performers. Of course, Cam Fella mares are still in their infancy as producers, and we are bound to see Cam Fella continue to climb up the list of leading broodmare sires for many years to come.
From the moment he stepped onto the racetrack, it was evident that Cam Fella was destined for greatness. The Pacing Machine soon found a new role as the Siring Machine, and is establishing himself as the Broodmare Machine. But all too soon, Cam Fella sons and daughters will no longer be representing him on the racetrack. It is indeed a great loss to the sport. Much like his father before him, and others who found their stallion careers come to an end, such as Billy Direct and Nihilator.
But at least Cam Fella will remain among us for the foreseeable future. This has been made possible by the very operation that ended his career as a sire, but will sustain his life. And it is a virtual certainty that Cam Fella will bring countless new fans to the sport when he travels North America this summer. In this way, little has changed in the past 14 years.
The Pacing Machine is still impacting on the present and future of harness racing.
Ralph.
