Charles E. Fipke

2009 Record: (102-26-15-12)

2009 Earnings: $1,590,756

2009 Win %: 25% In-The-Money %: 51%

Born: 1946, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Residence: Kelowna, British Columbia
Family: Divorced; three sons and three daughters
Education: Graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences in honors geology in 1970 from the University of British Columbia. Also has an honorary Ph.D. in Technology from the UBC Okanagan.
Professional Background: A highly acclaimed geologist, Fipke is a leading figure in the discovery of diamonds and precious stones in North America ... Chairman of both Metalex, a diamond exploration company, and Cantex, a company searching for gold in Nevada and Yemen ... His work is documented in the book “Fire into Ice: Charles Fipke and the Great Diamond Hunt.” ... Fipke is credited with initiating the largest mineral staking rush in North America since the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s. In 1991, Fipke discovered a diamond mine northeast of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Subsequently, roughly 260 companies registered claims for 100,000 square miles of land in the area ... Fipke’s find led to the establishment of the Ekati Mine in 1998, located near Lac de Gras, which is considered to be one of the world’s largest diamond mines. Fipke owns a 10 percent share of the mine, which accounts for 4 percent of the world’s diamond production ... In 2006, he donated $6 million through his foundation to establish the Charles Fipke Centre for Innovative Research at UBC Okanagan and $1 million to purchase the Charles Fipke LAM-ICPMS – a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer that uses lasers to analyze sample materials . . . Fipke founded WildAid/Canada, an organization dedicated to protecting endangered species and has been a long time supporter. He recruited Virgin Airways Chairman and tycoon Richard Branson as the organization's first donor... Fipke also introduced the organization to actress Bo Derek, whom he met when Silver Charm ran in the 1997 G1 Kentucky Derby, and she has been an active supporter of WildAid ever since. Bo Derek was one of Fipke’s guests at Churchill Downs when Tale of Ekati ran in the 2008 Kentucky Derby...Fipke also has been the driving force of Operation Migration and since his involvement the whooping crane population of Canada, which had fallen to 29 birds, has now increased to over 500....He also works with the Smile Africa project and has funded three Portugese and English language libraries on the continent, with one in Angola and two in Soweto, South Africa.
Racing Background: Fipke’s association with horse racing as an owner dates back to 1981 when he bought Boldest Spirit at a sale in Vancouver ... Fipke raced and eventually bred her. One of her foals, Traveling Spirit, was the champion 2-year-old in British Columbia in 1991 and is now a riding horse for Fipke ... Fipke also was voted British Columbia’s leading breeder in 1991.
Racing Career: Fipke won major stakes with his 3-year-olds in both the United States and Canada during a gem of a 2008 campaign and he had another sparkling year on both sides of the border in 2009. ... In the U.S., Tale of Ekati, named after Fipke’s mine in the Northwest Territories, won the 2008 G1 Wood Memorial before finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby that year... “It was great to be in the Derby,” Fipke said. “There are not many people with a horse good enough to finish fourth in that race.” ... Tale of Ekati also won the G1 Cigar Mile in 2008...As a 2-year-old, Tale of Ekati won the G2 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park and was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile ... He was Fipke’s first Breeders’ Cup runner since Perfect Soul was ninth in the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Mile ... In his home country, Fipke enjoyed an even greater level of success in the 2008 Canadian Triple Crown as his homebred Not Bourbon prevailed in the $1 million Queen’s Plate, the first jewel of that series ... “For a Canadian, winning the Queen’s Plate gives you the same feeling an American would feel after he wins the Kentucky Derby,” Fipke said. “It’s our most prestigious race.” ... Not Bourbon provided trainer Roger Attfield with his record-tying eighth victory in the Queen’s Plate and brought home the Sovereign Award as Canada's top three-year-old male at year's end... In 2009 Fipke's second generation homebred Perfect Shower, by Perfect Soul, gave him another huge thrill when the colt scored a major upset in the G1 Breeders' Stakes, the third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. Perfect Shower, who paid $95 to win, also gave Attfield his record eighth win in the 1-1/2 mile turf test ... Among Fipke's best horses in 2009 are Internally Flawless, winner of the G1 Del Mar Oaks on the turf on August 22, and Lady Shakespeare, a full sister to multiple G1 stakes winner Shakespeare. Internally Flawless, who this season was being pointed to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf by trainer Bob Baffert, is named for the term gemologists use for the second highest clarity grade of diamonds ... Internally Flawless' juvenile half-sister, Fire Into Ice, named for Fipke's book, recently finished second in her career debut at Woodbine in October and has her owner very excited ... Society's Chairman became the back-to-back winner of the Holden Stakes in Canada this year and Soul of Nataka, also by Perfect Soul, is another Fipke homebred stakes winner....Fipke says the patience inherent in diamond mine exploration has carried over to his involvement in Thoroughbred racing. “I’ve been in horse racing since 1981 and when it takes more than 25 years to get a horse like Tale of Ekati, it shows that if you are persistent, you can achieve anything,” he said ... The homebred Perfect Soul, who also ran eighth in the 2002 Turf, earned slightly more than $1.5 million in his career and was Canada’s champion turf male of 2003 ... Now standing at Darby Dan in Kentucky, Perfect Soul won the G1 Keeneland Turf Mile and the G2 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland in 2003, both in course record time ... Fipke also bred and raced Dimontina, who earned $184,606 before being retired. She was the last mare bred to 1977 Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew before his death in 2002 and coincidentally, she also was the last mare bred to 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed before he passed away ... Fipke set a world record in 2003 with the purchase of a $2.3 million juvenile, who at the time was the most expensive two-year-old in training ever purchased at public auction. Later named Diamond Fury, the ridgling still was racing as an eight-year-old, but had yet to win a stakes race and has dropped into the claiming ranks.
Breeding/Racing Operation: Currently owns 40 race horses in training with Roger Attfield in Canada, Barclay Tagg in the Eastern United States, Bob Baffert in the West, Dallas Stewart in Kentucky, and John Oxx in Ireland ... Fipke has approximately 50 broodmares which he keeps at Darby Dan in Kentucky and Coolmore in Ireland ... J.B. McKathan in Ocala, Fla. breaks and works with all of the yearlings before they are assigned to the trainers.

Breeders' Cup Record

Starts	1st	2nd	3rd	Earnings
2	0	0	0	$102,000

2003	Mile	Perfect Soul	9th
2007	Juvenile	Tale of Ekati	4th