The colt mentioned in the song did go one to win The Grand Nationals (?) and also inspired a rose breeder in Stratford, Ontario to breed a rose called "Small Victory"... all proceeds from which go to boarding old race horses...

The chords themselves are pretty simple as BK above says... but if ya wanna do the song justice, you'll wanna learn the runs and fills and leady bits...

That's why -I- wanna get the article mentioned above... so's I can learn it the way he wrote it, and THEN change it to make it my own...

;-)