Perfect Soul has been pensioned from stallion duty at Darby Dan Farm and will reside at owner Charles Fipke’s farm in Paris, KY. The 21-year-old son of Sadler’s Wells-Ball Chairman, by Secretariat, is the sire of 25 black type horses, including two Grade 1 winners in Seeking the Soul and Perfect Shirl and boasts progeny earnings approaching $20 million from 14 crops.
Perfect Soul’s leading earner is Grade 1 winner and multi-millionaire Seeking the Soul. A Keeneland track-record setter, like his sire, Seeking the Soul won the 2017 Clark H. (G1) at Churchill Downs and this year’s Stephen Foster S. (G2). In addition to his significant victories, Seeking the Soul finished second in this year’s Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. (G1) and was runner-up in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) en route to current earnings of $3,414,153 for Fipke and trainer Dallas Stewart.
Perfect Shirl made Perfect Soul the sire of a Breeders’ Cup winner when she captured the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) over an international field for Fipke and trainer Roger Attfield. Perfect Shirl banked $1,390,729 while finishing on the board in 11 of 16 lifetime starts.
Perfect Soul also sired Kentucky Derby (G1)-placed Golden Soul, joining El Prado (IRE) as the only sons of Sadler’s Wells to sire a Breeders’ Cup winner and a Kentucky Derby-placed colt.
As a racehorse, Perfect Soul enjoyed an outstanding career, earning more than $1.5 million in winning seven of 21 starts. Named Champion Turf Male in Canada at age five, Perfect Soul recorded wins in the Shadwell Keeneland Turf Mile S. (G1) and in the King Edward Breeders’ Cup H. (G2) at Woodbine in his championship season. At six, he won the Maker’s Mark Mile S. (G2) at Keeneland, setting a new course record for one mile on turf, getting the distance in 1:33.54. Seeking the Soul emulated his sire in 2017 when he set a new track record at Keeneland, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.36.
