Charles Fipke
Fipke will be seeking his second Breeders’ Cup victory when the Dallas Stewart-trained Forever Unbridled starts in the $2 million Distaff (G1) Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. Forever Unbridled, a 4-year-old daughter of Unbridled's Song, is a millionaire and multiple Grade I winner this year, taking the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap April 15 at Oaklawn and $400,000 Beldame Stakes Oct. 1 at Belmont Park.
Fipke bred Forever Unbridled and her 5-year-old full sister, Grade I winner Unbridled Forever, who finished fifth in the 2014 Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita. Both Forever Unbridled and Unbridled Forever are out of Lemons Forever, who won the 2006 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at odds of 47-1. Fipke purchased Lemons Forever for $2.5 million at the 2007 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Stewart trained Lemons Forever and Unbridled Forever.
Fipke has had eight Breeders’ Cup starters as a sole owner, highlighted by homebred Perfect Shirl’s victory in the 2011 Filly and Mare Turf (G1). Fipke also bred and owned Perfect Shirl’s sire, Grade I winner Perfect Soul, a two-time Breeders’ Cup participant.
Finished fourth in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) with multiple Grade I winner Tale of Ekati, another homebred. Tale of Ekati was named for Fipke’s diamond mine discovery.
Fipke’s Tale of Verve was second to American Pharoah in the 2015 Preakness (G1) at odds of 28-1 and the owner's Golden Soul was runner-up in the 2013 Kentucky Derby (G1) at odds of 34-1.
Owns approximately 75 broodmares and breeds many of them to the stallions he raced, including Tale of Ekati, Perfect Soul and Jersey Town. He owns two farms in Paris, Ky. just north of Lexington that span nearly 400 acres. His stallions reside at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Ky.
Fipke purchased his first horse at a sale in his native Canada in 1981.