Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-02-12
You Can Lose
ALo+ ofWays
On a Horse
Runyon Finds II Hard :
to lake Sometimes
BY DAMON RUNYON

COME day we are going 10
~ compile volume of anec-
dotes on betting mishaps 10
horse players under the title 1T
Shouldn't Happen to a Pekinese."
II VIII be a companion piece 10
our long projected but as vet
unwritten tome. "All Horse Pay
efs Die Broke. :.
We canno, begin our work on
the anecdotes until we acquire
enough patience to listen to the
personal experiences of, others.
However, we will not require
many outside contributions TO
make our volume a weighty
affair Pages one to 600. inclu-
slVe, can be devoted entirely 10
our own troubles. Everything
happens 10 us around race
track. We did not think any
thing new could possibly he
devised TO beat us out of a bet
since the historic afternoon at
Saratoga when we had a wager
on three different horses that
ran onc-two-thrce and were
then all disqualified and the
fourth placed first. but wait
until you hear what happened
the other day
TT WAS at Hialeah. down in
L Dade County. Florida. and
when the last race came up we
said 10 ourself if Paul Colds
Old Snow was ever going TO win
one. this was the spot. So we
wager on Snow and he came
looping down the stretch with
plenty of the murk of the Flor
ida evening in between him and
the next horse and George Seabo
just clucking him home II did
/. not look as If Snow could lose
unless he fell dead
Well. what do you suppose the
come-off was?
They had pulled the tall. gaunt
starting gate into the iniold
after sending the horses away
at the eighth pole and naturally
SNOW had TO pass the gate on
iAA1 " Ntft " IL ~ ' dEt am
breeze or some other vibration
caused the gate To waggle as
Snow was passing it and he
caught the movement out Of the
tail of his left eye Il startled
him no little. No doubt he re-
membered leaving that gate a
short time previously and seeing
IT bob up on HIM again suggested
ghost,
Anyway. Snow SHE'D suddenly
from his straight course Most
likely we would have done the
same thing under the cirCum-
stances Before Seabo could rc-
assure him and get him straight
eHed cut something called PIT
Terrier lunged past and won the
race
I'VE WERE standing somewhat
w stunned by the miShap when
along came NJ r. Shanberg. re-
tired movie exhibitor. 10 tell us
how he got last minute tip on
another race. rushed up to
window and chuckcd in a bill
but when the seller pushed the
button that should have caused
the slot TO disgorge the pari-
m u tuels certificate nothing
came OUT MOI a lining Tho
machine had stuck or was ont uf
tickets or something Just then
the bell rang signalling that tho
horses were off and of course,
Shanberg'S horse won. bat what
good did that do him
Then Matty Fox OF Universal
Pictures all the way from Holly
wood, followed with a tale Of
how he had pushed $50 10 a
seller asking for tickets 10 that
amount on a stecd which won a
race, but when Matty examined
his tickets he found he had only
$40 worth. The seller had erred
and Matty was in too much Of
hurry 10 examine his pur-
chaseS and catch the error at
the window He cot his other
$40 back. of course. but the
error differed him out of over
$500
We thought VIC had heard
and experienced enough misery
and started h ONE. noting
George Price. the former actor
turned stock broker. scrabbling
around in an aisle as We were
leaving. He was gathering up
the fragments of batch Of win
ming tickets that he had mad
vertently torn up. thinking they
were losers. And over in the
auto parking lot Bobby Craw-
ford. the theatrical producer.
was looking for the Singing
Kid. because the Singer had told
him if a certain horse lost, he
the kid-would eat the horse
and Bobby wanted to see him
start.
Copyright. 1871. King Features synh., Inc.
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