Fatal Bullet, Formal Gold, Fipke head nominees to Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame

Charles Fipke, Fatal Bullet, and Formal Gold are among the 2021 Thoroughbred nominees to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

A total of 18 people and horses, comprised of nine Thoroughbred and nine Standardbred candidates, have been selected to appear on the voting ballot. A 20-person election committee for each breed will determine the one individual to be inducted in each category, with the results to be announced April 13.

The three categories selected by the nominating committee for the 2021 Thoroughbred ballot are Builder, Male Horse, and Veteran Horse.

Fipke, Sam Lima, and Vicki Pappas are the Builder category nominees.

Charles E. Fipke, a billionaire Canadian geologist, owned and bred three Sovereign Award winners, including 2008 Queen’s Plate victor Not Bourbon and Perfect Soul. He also campaigned homebred Perfect Shirl, who was victorious in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Lima was a longtime owner and promoter of the sport. He was the driving force for nearly 60 years behind the Toronto Thoroughbred Racing Club. Lima, who passed away in 2019, was recognized by the Jockey Club of Canada with a special Sovereign Award for his lifetime contributions to racing in 2018.

Pappas, a popular longtime owner-breeder, launched the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society in 1999. LongRun has re-homed over 600 racehorses donated by owners and trainers.

The Thoroughbred Male Horse ballot consists of Fatal Bullet, Heart to Heart, and Joshua Tree.

Fatal Bullet was among the greatest sprinters in Canadian racing history. He was voted Canada's Horse of the Year in 2008, after finishing second to Midnight Lute in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Turf expert Heart to Heart banked more than $2 million during a seven-year, 41-race career. Among his 15 wins were Grade 1 triumphs in the Maker’s 46 Mile and Gulfstream Park Turf.

Irish-bred Joshua Tree captured the Canadian International three times in a four-year span from 2010-13, finishing second in the Grade 1 fixture in 2011.

In the Thoroughbred Veteran Category, the nominees are Formal Gold, Mt. Sassafras, and Not Too Shy.

Formal Gold is the fastest Canadian-bred ever in terms of Beyer Speed Figures. After ending up fifth as a 3-year-old in the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Woodbine, he registered Grade 1 scores in the Donn Handicap and Woodward in 1997. He earned a Beyer of more than 120 four times.

Mt. Sassafras garnered the 1996 Sovereign Award for champion older male, not long after he outran Formal Gold to finish a close fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic. His most important victory came in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Handicap in 1997.

Not Too Shy accumulated 23 wins in 55 starts from 1968-71, making her one of the top fillies and mares of her era.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions resulting in the Hall of Fame not yet fully honoring the Class of 2020, the board of directors reduced the number of inductees for the Class of 2021 to three per breed. The board also decided additional inductees will be added in 2022 and 2023 to compensate for the smaller class of 2021.