I've never been happy with that Bible verse. To my mind, winning the race defines swiftness and winning the battle defines strength. The verse starts with two paradoxical examples, then shifts gears into three whines about unrecognised merit (which don't strike me as matters of chance). What is it actually trying to say? I write the point about swiftness and strength thus
The race is to the swift and the battle to the strong but the odds are never so short as the bookmaker offers and when the sea take the unsinkable ship with no lifeboats everybody drowns.
If you take that verse in context (Ecclesiastes 9), you'll see that Solomon is lamenting the fact that "time and chance" ultimately negate any individual merit (strength and swiftness) in the long run (since in the end we all die). The swiftest runner could trip or pull a muscle, and in the chaos of battle anything could happen. Take David Vs. Goliath. Solomon's own father defeated the stronger opponent. Other circumstances of chance can change the tides of war, too.
It's interesting to note that after Solomon became wise, he began to fall into something of an existential angst. I think that shows in this passage.
Gladwell's Outliers is a good read on how time (timing) and chance (opportunity) have far more effect on success than innate ability.
He may even have had that passage in mind when he wrote:
"The biggest misconception about success is that we do it solely on our smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work".
The race is to the swift and the battle to the strong but the odds are never so short as the bookmaker offers and when the sea take the unsinkable ship with no lifeboats everybody drowns.