First Foal for Darby Dan Farm's Grade I Winner Shirl's Speight

Shirl's Speight winning the GI Maker's Mark Mile | Coady media

Darby Dan Farm's Shirl's Speight (Speightstown–Perfect Shirl, by Perfect Soul {Ire}), sired his first reported foal when a filly out of the multiple stakes-placed Ultimate Class (Durling) was born at Crupper Bloodstock in Paris, Kentucky, on Feb. 9. The filly's dam amassed earnings of $283,253 during her racing career and she has also produced multiple graded stakes-placed Bad Beat Brian who has banked $865,158.

“I was very pleased with this filly from the moment she stood,” said Megan Morrison, Crupper Bloodstock, of the first arrival by Shirl's Speight. “Even in a newborn, it was obvious she had a great angle to her shoulder and a deep heart girth.”

A homebred for Charles Fipke, the bay registered his biggest victory in the 2022 GI Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland, earning a career-high 104 Beyer Speed Figure. He ranked among the top milers that season when also second by less than a length to champion Modern Games (GB) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. All told in an outstanding racing career, Shirl's Speight hit the board in 10-of-25 appearances competing against top-level horses around the world, banking $1,497,245.

Shirl's Speight is by the late Speightstown, a champion sprinter, winner of the 2004 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Shirl's Speight is a member of a dynamic and highly achieving family cultivated by Fipke through the decades. Fipke purchased Shirl's Speight's second dam, Grade I winner Lady Shirl, for $485,000 at the 2005 Keeneland November sale. He bred Lady Shirl to his homebred Sadler's Wells stallion Perfect Soul  to get Perfect Shirl, winner of the 2011 GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Perfect Shirl earned more than $1.3 million during her accomplished racing career.

For more information on Shirl's Speight, who stands for $5,000 S&N, contact Stuart Fitzgibbon at (859) 621-6763, or by email at Stuart@darbydan.com, or visit www.darbydan.com.

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