Mack Lobell

While Silke Horneer was swimming her way to a world record in the hundred meter breaststroke, Mack Lobell was cantering over the finish line of the mile-long trot for a first-place finish and a world record of his own. Yes, on the day of my first worldly breaths, two world records were shattered and formed anew.

If I had to relate to one of those victors, it would be Mack. While I’ve never competed in a harness race for trotters, I can’t swim either. It’s not that Mack is so close to my age (he was three when he set the world record). Yes, Silke and I both have two of the same chromosome. We also have the same number of chromosomes, while Mack has nine pairs more. But genetics has nothing to do with our stories. It’s the rest of Mack’s story that echoes mine. It’s because my life and Mack’s are both the same kind of Love Song…



The Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Trotters consists of the Yonkers Trot, the Hambletonian, and the Kentucky Futurity. In 1987, Mack had won the late-June Yonkers and the early-August Hambletonian with ease. The Futurity, held at The Red Mile in Lexington, was his only remaining obstacle to achieving what no horse had done since Super Bowl swept the races in 1972. And he liked The Red Mile. Going into the final leg of the triad, he was undefeated that year, and still held the previous year’s title of Trotter of the Year (which he would receive for ’87, too). His world-record-breaking trot came less than two weeks after his win at the Hambletonian, and was followed by a month’s rest and training. He was heavily favored to take the Crown.

And in the crisp morning air of October 2, 1987, Napoletano, sired by Super Bowl and Mack’s nearest competitor at the Hambletonian (finishing six and a quarter lengths behind), ascended from second in a final-quarter coup, overtaking Mack Lobell and ending his dream of attaining the Crown.



Mack’s owner sold him to a Swede, who let him win a few more purses in Europe before he put him to stud.



I don’t know enough about horses to know if Mack could have felt the gravitational pressure to perform, or resentment towards his trainers and their demands, or even disappointment at his loss, but I can’t imagine he didn’t. He must have. He must have been inconsolable.



It’s the only thing that makes sense, experientially.