Hall of Fame pacing mare Eternal Camnation passed away at the age of 27 at trainer and owner Jeff Miller's farm in Haviland, Ohio, where she had been living since retiring from racing two decades ago. Miller confirmed with Trot Insider that Eternal Camnation was humanely euthanized on Tuesday, March 5.
Harness racing's richest pacing mare earned more than $4.1 million and won 47 of her 101 starts, with a mark of 1:49.2 taken at The Meadowlands during her extraordinary career competing against world-class mares, including the likes of Bunny Lake, Worldly Beauty, Burning Point, Cathedra Dot Com, Sanabelle Island, Carolina Sunshine and Arts Virtue.
"In my opinion she was like the female Cam Fella, the female version of him," Miller said in a past Trot Radio interview. "Just a gutsy horse that liked to finish hard and knock heads with all the best Free-For-All mares."
A multiple Grand Circuit stakes winner, Eternal Camnation's triumphs included three Breeders Crowns, three Milton Stakes, two Roses Are Red Stakes, a Fan Hanover Stakes and a Jugette. All but one of the Breeders Crowns and the Jugette were won in Canada.
"She's always had a connection to Canada. When we went up there, the people took her in," said Miller in the Trot Radio interview. "People were beside themselves falling over, wanting to be nice and trying to help us. When she won, it seemed like one of their own won."
Eternal Camnation was rewarded for her accomplishments with six O'Brien Awards, including Horse of the Year in 2003, and earned four Dan Patch Awards. She was inducted into the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2013.
The daughter of Cam Fella out of the Nihilator mare Cool World was bred by Lewis Arno of Princeton, New Jersey and Frederick W. Hertrich of Seaford, Delaware. She was owned by Jeff Miller Stable along with Doc and Dorothy Miller of Delphos, Ohio during the bulk of her racing career.
Eternal Camnation was officially retired from racing in 2004 and was honoured with a stakes race in her name at Mohawk Racetrack.
As a broodmare, Eternal Camnation produced six foals, most notably Rocken Camnation, a winner of 59 races and more than half a million dollars in earnings.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Eternal Camnation.
(With files from Standardbred Canada and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame)