He lost 100 races but Zippy Chippy earned fame in other ways for being cantankerous and for putting on carnival exhibitions. He was voted one of the year’s “Most Intriguing Characters” by People magazine.
It seemed like a good deal at the time – a rattletrap Ford van with more than 100,000 miles on the odometer in exchange for a promising thoroughbred whose family tree included Man o’ War, Native Dancer and the father of the greatest racehorse of them all – Secretariat. Felix Monserrate, the Finger Lakes Racetrack .April 18, 2022