As I emphasized in the article about myths and legends in the Profile Edition of the Tribune, there never was a race to determine the location of the Freeborn County courthouse between horses representing Albert Lea and Itasca in 1860.

The person who has done the most to debunk this false tale is Roger Lonning, retired Albert Lea High School librarian.

However, back in an era when horse racing was a popular part of life, there were rivalries between individuals and even towns regarding who really had the fastest horse.

To help emphasize this, Roger furnished the following information about a real race between horses representing Albert Lea and Shell Rock which took place in early summer of 1858.

Roger’s information is based on a speech given by Dor K. Stacy at a Jan. 30, 1906, meeting of area horsemen and printed in the Freeborn County Standard newspaper in the Feb. 7, 1906 issue.

Dor, and that was his real name, was at this particular race 48 years earlier and explained:

&uot;At the time I am speaking of, the village of Shell Rock, now Glenville, and the village of Albert Lea were about the same size, and each considered the other rival … At Shell Rock there lived a man by the name of Fred Cutler, a small active man … He owned a small, bay, high-strung, thoroughbred, short distanced, race mare called ‘Bay Lady’ … Fred had raced this mare … and had won many more races that he had lost with her.

&uot;George Ruble (of Albert Lea)

had, at that time, a great big, nice chestnut Kentucky thoroughbred mare called ‘Sleepy Kate.’ She was one of the largest thoroughbreds that I remember of ever seeing. Handsome as a picture.

Kate, when quite young, had a very severe attack of distemper which left her wind in bad condition, what horsemen call ‘thick winded,’ and while everyone knew that Kate was fast as a ghost, it was the general opinion that she could not run a distance.&uot;

These two horses had been involved in an 80-rod (1,485 foot) race in Albert Lea and the result was inconclusive.

A second 80-rod race in Shell Rock resulted in a wild debate over the outcome.

Thus, the owners of these two horses and the area citizens

decided to have a third race near

what’s now Gordonsville.

This race would decide which mare was the real champion. They also agreed to have the race based on both an 80-rod and half-mile (2,640 foot) marked track.

The Shell Rock folks bet that Sleepy Kate would win the 80-rod part of the race and Bay Lady would be the big winner at the half-mile mark.

Ruble advised the Albert Lea folks to bet their money the other way.

Cutler rode his horse, Bay Lady. Delos Roberts rode Sleepy Kate. In the race, Roberts carefully held Sleepy Kate back and Bay Lady barely won the race at the 80-rod line. Then he let Sleepy Kate loose and she won the race by a full length.

Dor Stacy said at the conclusion of his speech. &uot;This race settled forever the contention as regards the speed of these two mares.

Shortly after that race, Bay Lady left the country and I lost track of her, but Sleepy Kate lived on in Albert Lea to a good old age, and died honored and respected by all the horse loving world

that knew her.&uot;

Roger also furnished information about Dor K. Stacy, the man who gave the speech about this race to the meeting of area horsemen in 1906.

Dor was born in Columbus, Pa., on Nov. 6, 1842. He was the son of Judge E.C. Stacy and Dr. Elizabeth R. Stacy, one of

the nation’s first women doctors.

His family were among the first residents of Geneva in 1856. The Stacys moved to Albert Lea in 1859. Dor enlisted in Co. C, Fifth Minnesota Regiment, and served during the Sioux Uprising of 1862 and in many battles in the South during the Civil War.

In later years he was the city’s postmaster, a deputy sheriff, justice of

the peace, court commissioner, and county fair official. He died on Sept. 4, 1913.

We’re going to use the horse theme for the next column to feature a county-wide campaign to protect these vital parts of life 120 years ago.

(Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears each Friday.)