News flash. Shark Week is not invincible.
For only the fifth time in his last 43 starts Shark Week - start after start ripping the hearts out of his opponents —lost finishing (gasp) fifth in the nine-horse field.
“No problem,” said an unshaken trainer Rod Hennessy, who owns Shark Week with Lorne Duffield. “We’ll just start a new chapter next week.”
And he probably will.
“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,” said Hennessy.
“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: a baking 26 4/5.
Then, the eventual winner, Midnight Mover and driver James Jungquist, gave Shark Week’s regular driver Mike Hennessy only a brief time to rest and slow down the pace. Quickly on the move from third-place down the backstretch, Midnight Mover pushed on the gas some more forcing three-quarters in 1:24.
Shark Week was done and Midnight Mover was gone.
“Shark Week is in deep waters,” said track announcer Dylan Beardy in an apt phrase.
With the final time 1:50 4/5, the last quarter went in a sharp :27 4/5.
“I’m sure he’ll come back,” said Hennessy of the seven-year-old. “That’s horse racing. We’ll go from there.”
How good has Shark Week been?
“Best horse I’ve ever had,” said Hennessy, who has had a big handful of them.
“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 really did something no other horse in Western Canada has done when he won in a record 1:49 2/5 at Century Downs - pacing his first quarter in :26 2/5 and his last quarter in :26 4/5 going wire to wire and winning by eight and three-quarter lengths.
The previous Western Canada track record was 1:50 1/5 set by Tajma Hall in 2008
He’s also won $536,070.
“That’s pretty good around here,” said Hennessy.
Pretty good?According to research the $536,070 Shark Week has won is the third most money ever won in Alberta by a harness horse. Only Tajma Hall, who won $764,245 - all but $12,000 in Alberta - and As Promised, who earned $669,639 - with a chunk made in Ontario and B.C. - have won more in Alberta.
Furthermore, Shark Week has won a staggering 63 races in Alberta. At one point - from May 6, 2023 to April 27, 2004 - he never lost posting 17 straight wins. That’s domination.
The only horse with more consecutive wins in Alberta was As Promised, who won 18 in a row from October 23, 1993 and May 15, 1994.
Shark Week - now seven years old - had also come into this past Saturday’s race with seven straight wins.
How good are 63 wins in Alberta? Put it this way: nobody has won more.
As Promised won 71 times but eight were outside Alberta which also gives him 63 provincial wins.
Tajma Hall won 62 races. Two of them were in Ontario.
Once - in a qualifier - Shark Week paced in 1:51 2/5 and won by 27 lengths with a last quarter in 26 2/5.
“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 Alberta Yearling Sale.
“I liked the look of the horse,” said Hennessy, of Hip No. 26 consigned by breeder Meridian Farms.
He also liked the breeding. By popular Vertical Horizon, who won in 1:49 3/5, Hennessy 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,” Rod said of the mare who won 10 of 30 starts and was second five times and third four times.”I’m sure a lot of other horse people 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,” he laughed. “You just have to get lucky. You don’t have to be smarter than everyone else. You just have to be luckier.”
Hennessy said Shark Week’s long suit is that he’s “An athlete. 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 by Standardbred Canada what it was like driving Shark Week. Mike’s reply was “It’s out of this world.
“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 light 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 are 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,” said Hennessy.
“I’ve never seen a horse that wants to pace fast like he does,” said Hennessy. “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.”
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Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.