Columnist Dean Juipe: Goofy horse has appeal but no wins

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, March 22, 2000 | 10:12 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

The gates open simultaneously with the sound of the bell and the horses explode into the race with remarkable energy.

"And they're off," may be the greatest calling card in sports, signalling, as it does, the start of what onlookers hope and expect will be a thrilling, competitive race.

More often than not the fans are rewarded with the type of action and excitement that horse-racing enthusiasts have come to crave. They see beautiful, highly strung animals that are bred to run and are anxious to compete.

And then there's Zippy Chippy.

Initially scheduled to run today at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, N.J., Zippy Chippy holds the record for most career starts without ever having won. He's at 86 and counting.

There are losers, and then there are lovable losers.

The Los Angeles Clippers -- only one winning season in the NBA team's 17-year history -- are habitual losers who garner only marginal sympathy. But baseball's Chicago Cubs -- no world championships since 1908 -- are routinely treated with affection.

Those who follow horse racing take a Cubs-like view toward Zippy Chippy, a 9-year-old gelding with the odd habit of not always leaving the gate with the rest of the field.

"He wants to see the other horses out in front of him before he runs," his trainer, Felix Monserrate, told USA Today of his temperamental horse.

The definitive slow starter, Zippy Chippy has finished as far as 67 lengths behind the winner. In his most recent outing, Sept. 8 at Finger Lakes (N.Y.), he was up to his old tricks and balked as the gates opened, finishing 37 lengths off the pace.

Sometimes he runs upon command, however. Among his 86 defeats are six second-place finishes and 11 thirds, allowing him to compile a modest $28,206 in career earnings.

Acquired in exchange for a battered 10-year-old van five years ago, Zippy Chippy -- whose grandsire was illustrious 1964 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Northern Dancer -- is treated fondly by his owner and by racing fans at his home tracks in New York. He has been known to go off with $10,000 and $20,000 wagered on him, which prompted Finger Lakes steward Rick Coyne to say "the fans are throwing their money away. He's a pet."

He's also a curiosity, having eclipsed the record of 85 consecutive losses once held by Gussie Mae and Really A Tenor. (Both of those horses won their 86th races, the former in 1995 and the latter in 1990.)

Had he been entered in less competitive claiming races, Zippy Chippy probably wouldn't be saddled with a losing streak that has made some tracks reluctant to license him. For instance, Garden State ruled Tuesday that Zippy Chippy would remain on its ineligible list and wouldn't run today in spite of Monserrate's willingness to put up the entry fee and put his horse in a race at a larger track.

That decision will send the horse back to a lesser level of dusty tracks and fairground meets. Those who frequent Garden State Park have to be disappointed at the heartless decision.

"Not everybody can be a winner," said Monserrate, who also had a guest spot on a Las Vegas radio show Tuesday. "He's a horse that has personality. He does what he wants to do."

More power to him.