In a recent blog, I wrote about Canadian breeder and diamond man Chuck Fipke’s desire to win the Melbourne Cup (click here to see the blog). Years ago Chuck wanted to win his country’s biggest race, the Queen’s Plate, so he sent his Secretariat mare Ball Chairman to Coolmore Stud in Ireland and kept her there to be bred year after year to Sadler’s Wells – the stallion he felt was the best in the world to accomplish his goal.
Well, Chuck got one heck of a racehorse from one of those Sadler’s Wells foals – the G1 winner, millionaire and Champion Perfect Soul, now at stud at Darby Dan. Perfect Soul won a lot of races, but he didn’t win the Queen’s Plate. But guess what? Perfect Soul’s unraced full brother Not Impossible, whom Chuck stood at stud in Canada, got the job done for him. Last year, Chuck’s homebred Not Bourbon (by Not Impossible; click here for the pedigree) won the Queen’s Plate!
While winning the Melbourne Cup is Chuck’s latest goal, his second goal was to win the Kentucky Derby, and to accomplish that he’s purchased millions of dollars worth of quality mares to breed to Perfect Soul, and he’s got a pipeline of young Perfect Souls getting ready for that.
- Fipke with Friends at Claiborne Farm
Now, back to the Melbourne Cup, I mentioned in my January 10th blog that Chuck wanted to send his mare Perfect Secretary to New Zealand’s Cambridge Stud to be bred year after year to Zabeel, the premier sire over there and the sire of three Melbourne Cup winners. Well, that is happening! On behalf of Chuck, I have made the arrangements to board the mare there and breed her to Zabeel.
Click here to see the prospective foal from this mating and why Chuck decided on it. Zabeel is by Sir Tristram, a Sir Gaylord-line sire. Now, Sir Gaylord was Secretariat’s half brother, and Perfect Secretary is out of a Secretariat mare, so the foal will have the two half-brothers’ dam, Somethingroyal, 5×4 in the pedigree. But there’s more: Zabeel is out of a Nureyev mare, and Nureyev, as pedigree aficionados know, is closely related to Sadler’s Wells. Both are by Northern Dancer, and Nureyev is out of Special, while Sadler’s Wells is out of a daughter of Special. What this means, then, is that the foal will have 4×3 inbreeding to Northern Dancer and 4×4 inbreeding to Special!
It is Chuck’s desire that his “Special” colt will be Zabeel’s fourth Melbourne Cup winner! Remember, this is the man who discovered the largest diamond mine ever on the North American continent and discovered the lost gold mines of the Queen of Sheba. How hard can a Melbourne Cup winner be?
Another of the full sisters
Let me assure you that Chuck is extremely knowledgeable about pedigrees and makes his own decisions when it comes to matings and purchases. He spends a tremendous amount of time studying pedigrees and analyzing stats. He loved Owner-Breeder during the years I published it and he now reads my blog with equal enthusiasm. He recently read my blog on Kingmambo’s full brother Kitalpha and was intrigued. Click here to read the original blog on Kitalpha, and click here to read my follow up.
Last year Chuck bred Perfect Soul’s full sister Sadler’s Secretary to Lemon Drop Kid, a son of Kingmambo, in part because of Kingmambo’s success with Sadler’s Wells mares — FIVE G1 winners including Henrythenavigator. She foaled a very attractive Lemon Drop Kid filly on January 21. He originally thought he’d breed her back to Lemon Drop Kid, but the more he thought about it the more he became fascinated by Kitalpha’s big heart and his success at stud from small Zimbabwe-bred crops. Now he has decided to breed the mare to Kitalpha instead of Lemon Drop Kid and had me arrange the booking. Click here to see the pedigree of the prospective foal. You will notice this is another “Special” mating. Tomorrow morning Sadler’s Secretary will board a van to visit the breeding shed at War Horse Place, where Kitalpha stands!