Over the years, this newsletter has focussed mainly on the best performances by South African racehorses. Highlighting thoroughbred merit using speed figures as the measuring tool is useful to all fans of the game, but particularly to help Interbet punters compile a list of horses’ worth following that may carry betting value soon after listing.
Somewhat perversely, I thought of changing things up this week and writing about a few of the very worst horses to race. Four examples spring to mind – Quixall Corset in the UK, Japanese plodder, Haru Urara, an American slug called Zippy Chippy and expensive flop, The Green Monkey.
Quixall Corset was a National Hunt jumper who eventually bowed out after a lengthy sequence of 103 consecutive defeats. He was placed eight times and once managed to get within two lengths of the winner but would usually struggle to beat the ambulance home.
Haru Urara developed a cult following in Japan as a famous loser. Large crowds would turn out to watch and purchase merchandise in an ironic show of support for the hapless beast that eventually retired without a win after 113 slow motion jogs around the track.
Zippy Chippy’s long- suffering owners eventually called time on their battler during 2010 after a dire, winless streak of 100 races. The nadir of his career was getting badly beat by a low- grade baseball player in a short dash, during a publicity stunt!
The Green Monkey may not have been as slow as the other three mentioned, but he sure was a terribly expensive fail in a rare mistake by the Coolmore buying team. Perhaps they were misled by a 9.8 second 200m sectional in a breeze up at the Calder two year- old sale ? Either way, the pin-hookers who paid USD 425 000 for him as a youngster were elated when a bidding war between rival operations, Darley and Coolmore drove the price up to a, then, world record, 16 million USD’s!
Todd Pletcher was the top American conditioner entrusted with training Coolmore’s prized horse, but it proved a forlorn task for a man accustomed to managing a production line of winners. Beaten at 4/10 odds on when debuting at Belmont, and following up with two equally dismal starts, The Green Monkey was suddenly banished to stud. Standing for just 5000 USD he produced nothing of consequence and was written off as an inept failure there, too.