To Charles Fipke, Secretariat was a hero, a source of inspiration. So, when the world-renowned Canadian geologist started building a broodmare band, he had to have a Secretariat mare.
At the 1994 Keeneland November sale, he found three to his liking. He ended up with the one who looked most like her illustrious sire, a 6-year-old named Ball Chairman out of stakes winner A Status Symbol, by Exclusive Native.
He hit the mother lode, so to speak. Ball Chairman would go on to be the source of some of Fipke’s top horses through not just one, but two of her sons – the full brothers Not Impossible and Perfect Soul, both by Sadler’s Wells.
Not Impossible was an outstanding physical specimen but one whose condition as a wobbler precluded racing. In just three small crops as a stallion with barely more than 40 foals in total, he sired two homebred Canadian champions for the owner: Millionaire Not Bourbon, his only Queen’s Plate winner to date, and the mare Impossible Time.
Perfect Soul also won a Sovereign Award for Fipke, and was a G1 winner and Keeneland course record-setter; he earned $1.5 million on the racetrack. He went on to sire the first of the owner’s two Breeders’ Cup winners, Perfect Shirl in the 2011 Filly & Mare Turf, plus $3.5 million-earner Seeking The Soul. Another son was Golden Soul, the only Fipke color-bearer thus far to hit the board in the Kentucky Derby with a second-place finish in 2013.
But that’s not all. The foal Ball Chairman was carrying in 1994 was stakes-placed Dimontina, a daughter of Dixieland Band who remains a point of pride for the owner because she appeared in the Secretariat motion picture. She was the mare in the foaling scene depicting Secretariat’s birth.
So earlier this month, when news came that the Triple Crown winner’s 33-year-old daughter had passed away peacefully on March 1 (just shy of her actual birthday - she was born March 18, 1988), Fipke reflected on his very special mare. “Ball Chairman was just a real queen. She still looked good at 33, and I was so lucky to have her for so long.”
He credits the staff at Coolmore in Ireland, where she lived for many years, for the exceptional care that contributed to her longevity.
The mare was repatriated to America in early 2012, a few months after Fipke established his own farm near Paris, Kentucky. She was much-loved as a distinguished retiree by the entire staff, many of whom have been there since the beginning. “The longer the horses are there, the more connected you get,” said farm manager Elke Krohn. “Everybody has worked with her one way or another – she was everybody’s grandma!”
They all knew Ball Chairman was special, both as one of the first mares Fipke owned and as a daughter of Secretariat. When she arrived from Ireland, she was given her own spacious paddock, complete with a custom-built ‘house’ – a large run-in shed where she could shelter as needed. “She really took to that house,” said Krohn; even though the mare always wanted to be outside, she would wander under cover in times of excessive cold, wind or rain, or when the hot summer sun was unbearable.
The ‘Ball Chairman paddock’ – she has been the only resident along with a companion – is strategically located on the farm, next to roads between major barns and near a residence. “We put her there specifically because of her age, so we could always keep an eye on her as we were driving around.”
That’s why it didn’t take long on March 1 for Ball Chairman to be discovered. With people coming and going on a busy early spring day, typical of an active breeding farm, she must have gone quickly. She had been enjoying a couple of days of sunshine outside after a stretch of extremely cold weather had kept her in the barn.
Noting that Ball Chairman had a seizure of some sort last November, Krohn said she recovered remarkably quickly. “We were especially proud of the way she made it through the winter. We thought for sure she was going to be around for a while, but I guess it was her time. She was such a staple here. Now you drive by and you automatically look for her. It’s always hard when you lose one, but she was part of the family.”
The mare was cremated, and will be interred with other notable Fipke horses when a proper cemetery is constructed. Until her death, Ball Chairman was the oldest known Secretariat; that honor, or burden, now falls to 33-year-old Border Run with 32-year-old Trusted Company right behind.
Fond memories
Ball Chairman shared her special paddock first with Lady Shirl (dam of Perfect Shirl) and then with Recoleta. The latter died earlier this year, so her latest pal was a mare named Thislillightofmine. She adapted to new partners easily, but always remained the dominant member of any pairing. “She made all the decisions,” said Krohn, laughing.
Up to the time of her seizure just before winter set in, the old mare was still occasionally seen cantering around the paddock, and certainly continued to run away from anyone approaching her with what looked like medicine. “She was very particular about what she would accept, and wasn’t shy about letting everyone know it.”
She liked getting a few drops of CBD oil in recent months, though, to ease her arthritis and to help prevent any more seizure activity.
She was blessed with great feet, which no doubt helped her stay healthy. “Founder is the first thing you look for in these old girls, and she had very, very good feet for her age,” marveled Krohn.
Secretariat’s elderly daughter loved getting baths and being groomed, so the staff obliged her with a lot of baths. She also loved mints. Although generally a very kind horse, she did have quirks, like the aversion to medicine.
She seemed to pass some of those quirks on to many of her offspring, noted Krohn, especially those by Sadler’s Wells. Perfect Soul would test people during his time as an active stallion at Darby Dan Farm; he seemed to know when he could get away with being mischievous. He’s now pensioned at Fipke’s farm, and remains the picture of health at age 23. Daughters Perfect Secretary, Sadler’s Secretary and Secretariat’s Soul would all let everyone know when they weren’t happy with something, just like their mother, although they were never really troublesome.
Another daughter, Dance Secretary (by Danehill Dancer), is a “very, very sweet” mare; she remains on the farm as an active broodmare, along with Secretariat’s Soul.
Krohn characterized Dimontina, who passed away in 2019, as the most level-headed of Ball Chairman’s offspring. “For the longest time, we didn’t know if she could even mechanically put her ears back, because we had never seen her do it. She always had her ears to the front, always friendly. She was probably the sweetest horse I’ve ever been around!”
Hope springs eternal
While Ball Chairman is gone, her legacy lives on. She is responsible for four of Fipke’s six million-dollar earners, and the owner hopes Perfect Soul will be a productive broodmare sire, just like Secretariat and Sadler’s Wells.
Fipke is certainly excited about his current classic hopeful Speight’spercomete, who is out of the Perfect Soul mare Perfect La Comete. The colt has been racing in Dubai, and a second in the Al Bastakiya Stakes at Meydan on March 6 preceded Saturday’s run in the UAE Derby, in which he finished seventh.
He carries lots of that Secretariat blood Fipke adores – Perfect La Comete’s third dam is the prolific Secretariat broodmare Lady Winborne. That makes Perfect La Comete a half-sister to Munnings. Like Speight’spercomete, Munnings is a son of Speightstown, the current leading North American sire who carries a Gone West/Storm Cat cross.
This time of year, any promising 3-year-old triggers thoughts of the Kentucky Derby. It’s the stuff of dreams for any Thoroughbred owner-breeder. And Fipke has Ball Chairman to thank for that.