Response to Fipke's waived 2020 stud fees 'overwhelming'

In mid-April, longtime owner-breeder Charles Fipke announced all of his stallions could be bred to with zero stud fees this year, providing a bit of relief for the Thoroughbred racing world's smaller operations at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fipke said his no-fee breeding guarantees included contracts already signed for his stallions' service. The response was immediate to draw up many more.

"He made the announcement and we probably had 50 mare submissions in the next 24 hours that followed," said Ryan Norton, stallion director at Darby Dan Farm. "It’s been an overwhelming response. People are showing their gratitude to Mr. Fipke for proposing such a thing."

Fipke is standing seven stallions this season, all of which had original stud fees of $5,000 or less. There's Bee Jersey, Tale of Ekati and Tale of Verve at Darby Dan Farm near Lexington, Ky; Danish Dynaformer and Perfect Timber at Colebrook Farms in Uxbridge, Ontario; Forever d’Oro at Hidden Springs in Indiana; and Jersey Town at Daehling Ranch in Elk Grove, Calif.

Following Fipke's no-fee announcement, two of his three stallions at Darby Dan quickly reached their limits.

"Bee Jersey and Tale of Ekati are both booked full. Tale of Verve has maybe a couple spots left," Norton said. "People have really appreciated and taken advantage of it."

Colebrook Farms owner John Burness was eager to follow Fipke's plan.

"We provided our services for free," Burness said. "Anything that we can do to help the people is a good thing, obviously."

Like Norton, Burness said he had immediate responses to Fipke's announcement, and found many owners with a similar predicament.

"We had people call us fairly quickly," Burness said. "A lot of people had already booked their mares to other stallions and already had contracts. You’re not going to be able to cancel your contract if you already booked the mare to another stallion.

"...I advised them they had to honor their contract, or else they’d have to pay that other stallion fee."

Norton guaranteed no hidden fees or gimmicks to Fipke's deal.

"If you already had a contract signed, that fee was waived. It was re-done to a complementary contract -- no strings attached, Norton said. "There’s no fee, or breeding fee, or anything like that. You can sell or race or do whatever you want with the resulting offspring."

Fipke’s racing stable has earned more than $31 million in purse money since 2000. In addition to the stallions noted above, Fipke has also campaigned champion Forever Unbridled, Unbridled Forever and Seeking the Soul, amassing 366 wins from 2,471 career starts.

A native of Canada who made his millions as a diamond prospector, Fipke has won two Breeders' Cup races. Perfect Shirl took the 2011 Filly & Mare Turf and Forever Unbridled won the 2017 Distaff.