The Legend of Zippy Chippy

The Legend of Zippy Chippy: Life Lessons from Horse Racing's Most Lovable Loser by William Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Born under most auspicious circumstances (descended from War Admiral, Native Dancer, Man ‘O War, to name a few luminaries) Zippy Chippy never quite panned out...In fact, he never won. Zippy Chippy lost 100 races, with only a few second and third place finishes in a career spanning over 11 years.

But to thousands of fans, it didn’t matter. Zippy Chippy was a champion.

The Legend of Zippy Chippy traces that horse and his people, notably his trainer, Felix, who loved him like a son. And the author finds that there is much to be learned from someone like Zippy, who people could relate to, because of the way he handled constant defeat.

Zippy Chippy was a cranky horse, likely to bite the people he loved and steal the hats of anyone else. But he was special because he was like the rest of us, who also can be cranky and maybe steal a hat once in a while and (let’s face it) are more familiar with defeat than victory. He had all the desire in the world, but he just found so many ways to lose.

But throughout it all, he kept his head up and won the hearts of fans, who often bet on him even though they knew it was no more than a symbolic bet for the underdog (albeit, a poorly priced one—if he ever had come in he would have likely only paid a few dollars since the odds on him were inflated and had little to do with his actual ability to win).

This is a fun book that explores a mildly dark side of horseracing. It is similar to another book I liked about horseracing: Elizabeth Mitchell’s Three Strides Before the Wire, about the great and tragic champion, Charismatic…only this is the exact opposite, in that the hero is a loser. A record setting, wonderful loser.

Really good, easy to read, told with humor, this is a book I will happily return to my friend who loaned it to me. It’s only been a year…







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