Share The Delight co-owner Edward Cohen dies

“Fast Eddie” (as he was known to his childhood friends in Montreal) bought his first harness horse in 1971 as a tax write-off and ended up in the 1970s with a stable of nearly 20 pacers and trotters racing out of Blue Bonnets (Hippodrome de Montreal). After moving to Colorado, he left the sport for several decades but returned in 2006 in partnership with his son and his friends. In both eras, he preached patience with young horses, diligence in selecting yearlings and race horses, and trust and confidence in allowing trainers and drivers to do their jobs.

In recent times, he owned interests in Share The Delight, Wild Ride Hanover, Brass Band, Perfect Wave, Real Energy, and March On. In Montreal, his stable included Painter Lobell, Caravelle Sam, Caravelle Direct, Rooster, Wanaque, Silvern Hanover, Darius Hanover, Bills Boy A, Flare Lane, Adios Dillard, Sheffield Bay, Ikey N, Adelbar, Range Beam, Mountaineer, Overland Hanover, True Tom, Cals Creed, Boylan, Kandy Kilroy, Dulcimar, and others long forgotten. His first horse was Adios Dillard in 1971. His favorite horse was Caravelle Sam. His best horse is Share The Delight. For a short period, he owned Safe Arrival and, so the story goes, he came within a whisker of buying Abercrombie at a yearling sale.

Over the years, Cohen was fortunate enough to cross paths in the harness business with some of its finest trainers, drivers (and people), including Duncan MacTavish, Mike Lachance, Linda Toscano, Onil Patry, Pierre Desjardins, John Campbell, Daniel Jean, Tony Osullivan, Jacques Hebert, Patrick Lachance, Peter Littwin, Rich Ringler, Gilles Gendron, Tony Morgan, Denis Normandin, Murray Brown, Gerry Bloch, Andre Boucher, Tom Miller, Conrad Leber, Gerry Semmelhack, Fred Laxer, Robert Samson, Martin Lachance, Stephane Bouchard, and Del MacTavish Sr.

His most successful partnership came with Canadian trainer/driver Duncan MacTavish, who often called Mr. Cohen “the best owner I ever had.” MacTavish emphasized that Mr. Cohen was an owner who was happy if his horse raced well no matter where the horse finished. The last race Mr. Cohen watched in which his own horse was entered was this year’s Meadowlands Pace in which Share The Delight finished third to Art Official and Somebeachsomwhere. Mr. Cohen received the colt’s blanket from the race. 

Mr. Cohen died one week short of his 80^th birthday and three months shy of his 50^th wedding anniversary. He is survived by his beloved wife, Ruth, a horsewoman by training not pedigree, who now takes over the reins of Algonquin Farms, Ltd.; by his children, Judy and Andrew; and by his three grandchildren, Emily, Jane and Samuel, the latter of whom at age nine is the third generation in the family to own harness horses.

In lieu of flowers, the Cohen family requests that donations be made to the American Diabetes Association and/or the Standardbred Retirement Foundation.

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