Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Jef's Magic Trick
One of Harness Racing's Top Broodmares

Jef’s Magic Trick, is a Hall of Fame broodmare whose 14 foals have collectively earned over $4.6 million. She was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York, in 2001. Ten of her progeny have marks under 2:00 and five have marks under 1:55, including $2.5 million earner Cam’s Card Shark (1:50), who was Horse of the Year in 1994.

Owner Robert Unice bought Jef’s Magic Trick as a yearling for $30,000 at a sale at the old Liberty Bell Park near Philadelphia on the advice of his trainer, Jack Smith Jr., and an outside consultant. Unice brought the sales catalog to a psychic and asked her to pick out one horse from the book for him to buy.

“There were 370 horses in the sale, but only 20 yearlings. I didn’t tell her to pick a yearling, but this is the one she came up with,” he recalled. “My wife at the time pointed out that I spent $5,000 more on a horse than I had on our first house.”

Jef’s Magic Trick won $28,340 on the track and took a mark of 2:02 before retiring due to a broken bone.

Her sons and daughters have passed on their ability, with Cam’s Card Shark one of the sport’s top stallions and sire of eight million-dollar-plus earners. Her daughter Michelle’s Destiny is the dam of one of 2006's top performers, Luck Of Michelle p,2, 1:53.1 ($615,091).

Jef's Magic Trick died on the morning of March 23, 2007 at Heritage Hill Farm in Cream Ridge, New Jersey, but her legacy lives on through her progeny. Owner Unice retained her first foal, Direct Current p,1:54.2 ($378,403), by Direct Scooter, and her last, a now 3-year-old by Camluck named Carta Final.