Grade 1 winner Unbridled Forever dies after delivering colt

Grade 1 winner Unbridled Forever died earlier this month, following foaling complications after delivering a surviving colt by Medaglia d'Oro on March 15.

Unbridled Forever, a 10-year-old daughter of Unbridled's Song, was a homebred runner and broodmare for Charles Fipke, who has experienced a recent run of bad luck with his star-studded broodmare band at his CF Farm in Paris, Ky., this foaling season. Lemons Forever, the dam of Unbridled Forever, also delivered a Medaglia d'Oro foal this month who died later in the day.

The losses were first disclosed by Sid Fernando, a longtime bloodstock adviser and consultant to Fipke, while speaking to national radio host Steve Byk.

"Unfortunately, he had some bad luck," Fernando said. The death of Lemons Forever's foal "came a week after her daughter Unbridled Forever [foaled] ... the foal lived and was crackerjack, but unfortunately, the mare died. ... So [Fipke] took two big knocks. Fortunately, the Medaglia d'Oro colt survived."

Lemons Forever, by Lemon Drop Kid, is best known for an upset win the 2006 Kentucky Oaks. Fipke purchased her for $2.5 million at the 2005 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. He has campaigned Eclipse Award champion Forever Unbridled, as well as her full sister, Unbridled Forever, out of the mare.

Unbridled Forever scored her biggest of three stakes victories in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes in 2015 at Saratoga. The mare also recorded three Grade 1 placings, highlighted by a third-place finish in the 2014 Kentucky Oaks. As a broodmare, she is the dam of three surviving foals by Medaglia d'Oro, including this year's colt. Unbridled d'Oro, a 3-year-old filly, has recorded one runner-up effort from two starts to date. She is followed by full sister Unbridled Medaglia, a juvenile this year.