Zippy Chippy
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| Zippy Chippy | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Compliance |
| Dam | Listen Lady |
| Damsire | Buckfinder |
| Sex | Gelding |
| Foaled | 1991 |
| Country | USA  |
| Colour | Brown |
| Breeder | Capritaur Farm |
| Owner | Felix Monserrate |
| Trainer | Felix Monserrate |
| Record | 100:0-8-12 |
| Earnings | $30,834 |
| Major Racing Wins, Awards and Honours | |
| Major Racing Wins | |
| None | |
| Infobox last updated on: September 18, 2006. | |
Zippy Chippy is America's favorite thoroughbred racing loser.
Contents |
[edit] Eccentric to the bone
With a pedigree overflowing with an embarrassment of fast and famous winners, sires, and broodmares (among others: Buckpasser, Tom Fool, Northern Dancer, Bold Ruler, Round Table, Count Fleet, War Admiral, Native Dancer, Man o' War, Nasrullah, Busanda, Ben Brush...as well as the greatest "blue hen" broodmare of the Twentieth Century, La Troienne, then all the way back to Glencoe and Diomed—both very great sires, Diomed producing Sir Archie, grand sire of the amazing Boston, Glencoe producing great daughters, the greatest of which was Reel, and all of these also running in Zippy's blood, not to mention Blue Larkspur, Black Toney, Domino, Lexington, Eclipse, Leamington, Norfolk, Lecomte, Sweep, St. Simon, Spendthrift, Phalaris, Nearco, Princequillo, Lady Lightfoot, and Reigh Count), one might imagine Zippy Chippy had a shot at becoming a great star of the turf. But Zippy Chippy can't—or won't—win races.
In 100 starts, he lost 100 times.
Born on April 20, 1991, the eccentric brown gelding could be a reincarnation of the aforementioned eccentric Boston. But unlike Boston who was beaten and humiliated into a semblance of submission and thereby became America's greatest 19th century racehorse, Zippy Chippy became America's most famous maiden. A maiden is a horse who hasn't won a race. Zippy Chippy is more than a maiden; he's a virgin.
[edit] Everyone loves a trier
Owned and trained by Felix Monserrate and bred by Capritaur Farm, Zippy Chippy is a New York bred, and the pride of a legion of fans. In his time, he's had a few close brushes with the winners circle...racing against other horses who'd never won either, but no horse in America has ever lost as many races as Zippy Chippy. (Except a gelding called Thrust who managed to lose 106 of them, but for some reason never became the star Zippy is. Perhaps it's all about temperament. Zippy has by far the worst personality.)
Felix Monserrate acquired the famous Zippy in 1995 in a trade for an '88 Ford truck. Already a resident of Monserrate's stable, Felix knew what he was getting. By 1995, Zippy had taken a chunk out of him more than once. Over time, Felix's truck-trade was banned from innumerable tracks for biting other horses, for breaking at the gate, for refusing to start at all, for drifting so wide at the turns he was practically over the rail, and for stopping cold in mid-race. Eventually about the only track not to ban him was at the Three-County Fair, which is, of course, where he racked up most of his losses.
"I don't care how old he is, he's trying and trying and trying, and those things really made me feel happy," Monserrate said.
Zippy never won a thoroughbred event, but he did win a race. In August of 2001, he came home first against a minor league baseball player in a 120 foot race. It was a narrow win, but nevertheless a win. (Although there are sources that say he lost this 40-yard dash. It seems there might have been two races. He certainly won the one against Darnell McDonald, then playing for the Rochester Red Wings. Mystery solved. On August 18, 2000, Rochester outfielder Jose Herrera outran Zippy Chippy in a 40-yard race. Therefore, against humans Zippy is 1 for 2.) He definitely did win a race at Freehold Raceway when he went a half-mile in 1:02 against a standardbred called Paddy's Laddy. Under strong urging, he squeaked past Paddy's Laddy and his trotting rig to win by a neck. But this was a publicity stunt and he'd spotted the trotter a twenty length lead.
After his win, Felix said, "It feels good to win but it doesn't count until we do it against Thoroughbreds. Who knows? Maybe winning will give him a little heart."
Completely at a loss in a winner's circle, Zippy Chippy had to be held hard to get his photo taken. But Monserrate refused to enter his horse in a claiming race just to get a win. "I don't want any crazy people claiming him. He's like a member of my family. He's mean, he kicks, he bites, but he has a home forever with me and my daughter." Zippy does more than that. He savages other horses, destroys stalls, and throws riders. Boston would call him a pal.
[edit] Would success have spoiled Zippy Chippy?
His 100th loss came on Friday September 10, 2004 in the Northampton Fair at the Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton, Massachusetts. He went off at odds of 7-2 making him the second betting choice.[1] A host of fans were there that day to cheer him at the start and to take his picture. Said his jockey, "It would be nice if people took photos at the end of the race too." Zippy came in last.
[edit] Home, at last
In December of 2004, he retired to become an outrider pony at his hometown track, Finger Lakes racetrack in Farmington, New York, where he'd also been banned from racing on September 8, 1998, after failing to leave the gate with the rest of the field for the third consecutive time. (As an outrider pony, he will escort horses in the post parade and lead them to the gate.)
There may, or may not, be a movie in the making for Zippy. Hollywood has come calling. In 2000, People magazine included him on its list of that year's most interesting personalities. He gets fan mail from everywhere. He's made his trainer into a minor celebrity. He's been used in an English ad campaign to convince kids to stay in school...in other words, to keep trying.
"Say you have three children," Felix said, "One is a lawyer, doing well. The other a doctor, very, very successful. But the third one, not so smart, so he's working at McDonald's. What do you do? Ignore him? Course not. He's the one who needs your help. That's Zippy."
A retired historian for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York, Tom Gilcoyne, once said that Zippy Chippy "...hasn't done anything to harm the sport. But it's a little bit like looking at the recorded performances of all horse races through the wrong end of the telescope."
Zippy Chippy's lifetime record is: 100 starts = 0-8-12. He actually earned $30,834, more than enough to keep him in oats.
[edit] An aside
For the worst track record in the world, one has to look to Japan and their beloved racehorse Haru Urara. And then there's England's worst racehorse, Quixall Crossett. By the age of 16 in 2001, he had lost 98 consecutive starts. By now, it's worse. Or better, depending on point of view.
There is no world governing body that tracks lack of success for horses, but Dona Chepa's penchant for losing (0 wins out of 125 starts) at least beats other notable marks for futility including Ouroene (0 for 124), Gloria Springs (0 for 106, Japan), Thrust (0 for 105, North America) and Quixall Crossett (0 for 103, Britain).
