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May 15: But Will the Horse Ask for a Rematch? Hark, hark, another man-vs.-horse race is in the offing. Leon Greenberg, the president of Monticello Raceway, has come up with the man-vs.-horse spectacle as a means of jazzing up the opening program of the season at his track tonight. Henry Carr, the pro football player and 1964 Olympic champion at 200 meters, has agreed to run against a horse for a tidy sum of $1,000. Carr will run two races against pacers in the interest of fun and games. Jesse Owens, the all-time champion runner against horses, will be on hand as a starter. Owens ran against horses some 50 times and upheld the honor of homo sapiens more often than not.
Owens said, "I ran 100-yard races against them. I usually beat the thoroughbreds, but I lost to the quarterhorses. Against the thoroughbreds I got off to such a big lead, they couldn't catch me. I couldn't get a good jump on the quarterhorses, though." Owens raced a horse in his initial appearaance as a a professional after winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. He got $5,000 for running against a thoroughbred named Julio McCaw at a track and field stadium in Havana, Dec. 26, 1936. Owens beat the horse by some 20 yards, though there seems to be some discrepancy between Owens' memory and the New York Times clipping of the happening. Owens said they started even in a 110-yard race; the clipping said Owens was given a 40-yard head start to make up for a shortcut the horse could take enroute to the finish line in a 100-yard event. Owens said, "Generally, the man has a big advantage in a race like this because of the starting gun. When they shoot the gun, the horse usually gets unnerved and is slow to start. I always got away as fast as I could while the horse was rearing and bucking." Owens once ran against a trotting horse, too, at a distance of about 125 yards. The trotter was allowed a running start and when he reached Owens, Jesse took off. Owens beat him. Pacers are faster than trotters, slower than thoroughbreds. There seemed to be more of this zany stuff in the old days, particularly in baseball. A great racer of his time was Hans Lobert, who played for the New York Giants under John McGraw in the World War I era. Lobert held the record for the fastest time running around the bases. McGraw, a keen betting man, always was interested in setting up matches for Lobert. One spring when the Giants were training in Havana they staged a marvelous race carnival. The race had Lobert competing against a horse going six furlongs, a car going about a mile-and-a-quarter, a motorcycle going a mile. It took place at the racetrack in Havana and mutuel betting was permitted. McGraw and Giants owner Charles Stoneham trained Lobert secretly in the mornings on a golf course. The rest of the time they made sure he was seen around town partying and drinking-all to build up the odds on Lobert. Lobert later recalled he took an early lead and seemed to be in good shape until the final stages when the horse made a big move at him. With McGraw yelling, "Run, Hans, run," Lobert came up with an extra burst and went over the finish line with a last headlong plunge. As Lobert looked up, he said, "Did they put my number up?" Lobert had a nose of some distinction, and when Casey Stengel took to telling the story in later years, he thrust out his own handsome proboscis as he said, "Lobert won by a . . . nose!"
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So Somebody Got Even 
