Rockober
12-03-2007, 10:48 PM
:icon_mrgreen:
O for 128: This racehorse is a total loser
As futility goes, Dona Chepa is numero uno. Her track record speaks for itself.
By Mike Jensen
Inquirer Staff Writer
CANOVANAS, Puerto Rico - The words on the barn wall, painted in homage to the mare in stall No. 9, refer to this horse's prolongada mala suerte, her "prolonged bad luck."
This big, sturdy-looking, 9-year-old brown mare named Dona Chepa - spotted one recent morning in her stall, languidly eating her feed - must be the hardest-luck racehorse of all time.
Her grandfather won the Kentucky Derby - but Dona Chepa doesn't know that. She has left the starting gate 128 times and lost each time. This is believed to be a world thoroughbred record, breaking the mark of an Australian horse who was 0 for 124.
But Dona Chepa doesn't merely fail to win. "Solidly last" is how her exercise rider describes her typical performance.
"You know what to expect," said her trainer, Efrain Nieves, adding that he has never been disappointed by her.
"She's behind the pace, and she falls back . . . and back . . . and back . . . and back," said Joe Bruno, who calls the races at Hipodromo Camarero, just outside San Juan.
In September, Dona Chepa was finally brought to the winner's circle - after the actual winner had departed - when she lost her 125th straight. Track officials presented Nieves with a plaque. He said he was a little nervous that day. Dona Chepa did her part, though. She finished last in a six-horse field, 34 lengths behind the winner.
"She just had to cross the finish line," Bruno pointed out.
She's always done that. In her 128 races - all at this racetrack, the former El Comandante - Dona Chepa has finished last 49 times and at least 30 lengths behind the winner 51 times. She has come within 10 lengths of a victory only twice in her life, and led a race just once, briefly, before falling 393/4 lengths back. She finished second once, in 2003. Somebody tried to buy her but offered only $1,000.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20071130_O_for_128.html
O for 128: This racehorse is a total loser
As futility goes, Dona Chepa is numero uno. Her track record speaks for itself.
By Mike Jensen
Inquirer Staff Writer
CANOVANAS, Puerto Rico - The words on the barn wall, painted in homage to the mare in stall No. 9, refer to this horse's prolongada mala suerte, her "prolonged bad luck."
This big, sturdy-looking, 9-year-old brown mare named Dona Chepa - spotted one recent morning in her stall, languidly eating her feed - must be the hardest-luck racehorse of all time.
Her grandfather won the Kentucky Derby - but Dona Chepa doesn't know that. She has left the starting gate 128 times and lost each time. This is believed to be a world thoroughbred record, breaking the mark of an Australian horse who was 0 for 124.
But Dona Chepa doesn't merely fail to win. "Solidly last" is how her exercise rider describes her typical performance.
"You know what to expect," said her trainer, Efrain Nieves, adding that he has never been disappointed by her.
"She's behind the pace, and she falls back . . . and back . . . and back . . . and back," said Joe Bruno, who calls the races at Hipodromo Camarero, just outside San Juan.
In September, Dona Chepa was finally brought to the winner's circle - after the actual winner had departed - when she lost her 125th straight. Track officials presented Nieves with a plaque. He said he was a little nervous that day. Dona Chepa did her part, though. She finished last in a six-horse field, 34 lengths behind the winner.
"She just had to cross the finish line," Bruno pointed out.
She's always done that. In her 128 races - all at this racetrack, the former El Comandante - Dona Chepa has finished last 49 times and at least 30 lengths behind the winner 51 times. She has come within 10 lengths of a victory only twice in her life, and led a race just once, briefly, before falling 393/4 lengths back. She finished second once, in 2003. Somebody tried to buy her but offered only $1,000.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20071130_O_for_128.html
