Owner-breeder Charles Fipke is the luckiest man in the world. As a professional geologist and entrepreneur, he literally finds mountains of gold and gems. And as a hobby, he breeds Grade 1 racehorses.

Even there, Fipke is lucky. Two years ago, his homebred Tale of Ekati (by Tale of the Cat) won the Cigar Mile in 2008 on a disqualification. This weekend, Fipke’s homebred Jersey Town (Speightstown) won the Cigar Mile as the longest shot on the board at 34-1 over G1 winners Haynesfield, Girolamo, Bribon, Vineyard Haven, and others.

Now, fellow horse breeders, we need to sit down and get some good air in our lungs for this next one. Fipke bought the dams of both his Cigar Mile winners at auction while carrying those G1 winners.

We are in the thin-air territory of good luck and amazing fortune here, right?

Well, there is also a lot of hard work involved at every step in the process of mating and producing a good racing prospect.

Sid Fernando, president of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, is a regular consultant to Fipke, and Fernando said that “Chuck is really a very enthusiastic horse owner. He has a theory about what works, and he enjoys planning matings according to the various theories that he operates with. Chuck gets suggestions from various individuals, but he makes the final decisions on everything.”

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