Zippy's First Win by Jack the Sailor


The Mudcat Forum	The Mudcat Resource Pages	The Mudcat Midi Page	The Digital Tradition Folk Song Server
Back to The Mudcat Songbook		Back to The Song Challenge Winners!
Anyone is welcome to perform these songs in public without royalties; however, if any of them are recorded or published for profit, the writers/composers expect the usual royalties.

The Song Challenge: Shoot For The Moon - If You Miss, You'll Still Land Among The Stars -- A horse who has lost 89 consecutive races has finally won one, against a human. Zippy Chippy holds the North American record for the number of races lost by a thoroughbred. But he finally ended his losing streak by taking on a two-legged challenger. The 10-year-old gelding beat a minor league baseball player in a handicap match race billed as Man versus Beast II. It was held before the International League game between the Rochester Red Wings and Ottawa Lynx in Rochester, New York state. He saw off Red Wings outfielder Darnell McDonald by a length in a 50-yard race. "I might have got him at 40 yards, but that extra 10 yards put him over the hump," said McDonald, who added he had never lost a race to a human. Last year Rochester outfielder Jose Herrera outran Zippy Chippy in a 40-yard race. "Zippy was ready today," jockey Jorge Hiraldo said. "Last year he was a little scared."

Zippy's First Win by The Loyal Horseman (a/k/a Jack the Sailor)
(Tune: Snoopy's Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen)

The bets had gone down on this mangy old horse
He was facing a human, down on the course
It's as sad as can be if he can't beat a man
And Jose only said he'd do the best that he can

Was a night before baseball they'd run Forty yards
And Zippy was game, yes he tried really hard
But he was afraid from his head to his toes
Jose Herrera edged him out by a nose

REFRAIN
Long shot bets those long shot bets
Placed on that old nag
The bookies couldn't let him win
Cause they would hold the bag

Next year came Darnell, in a fifty yard race
He'd just better win, or else he'd lose face
Zippy was certian to go to defeat
when Darnel Cried out, You got me beat!

Long shot bets those long shot bets
Placed on that old nag
The bookies couldn't let him win
Cause they would hold the bag

Well we'll never know, what happened that time
Why the horse edged him out at the end of the line
Some say the distance was a little too far
Some say that Darrell went and bought a new car

The odds on the race were a thousand to one
and let us not say that Darrell was dumb
If he'd bet on the horse, before on whim
Then he could win big, if he let the nag win

ten, twenty, thirty, forty eighty or more
Old Zippy Chirpy had built up his lore
The losingest racehorse that there's every been
Imagine the payday if he happened to win!

Long shot bets those long shot bets
Placed on that old nag
The bookies couldn't let him win
Cause they would hold the bag