Heading into the 2008 Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, trainer ROGER ATTFIELD and jockey JONO JONES were not sure their entrant NOT BOURBON, owned and bred by Charles Fipke, could be victorious at the challenging 1 1/4 mile distance. The flashy, white-blazed three-year-old had won the Plate Trial in his previous race, holding on to edge Solitaire by a head, but the speedy colt was tiring.
But despite drawing post 12 of 14 and losing some fans as his odds drifted upwards and the filly Ginger Brew ended up favoured, Not Bourbon pounced to the lead into the stretch and held off the the charge of the filly and Solitaire to win the Canadian classic by a head. The exciting victory was the eighth Plate win for Attfield, tying the record set by Harry Giddings Jr. Not Bourbon was the first Plate winner for Jones and Fipke.
Just shy of his 21st birthday, Not Bourbon passed away at Flying Horse Farm in Kelowna, B.C. where he had been standing at stud for the past four years.
A son of Fipke’s unraced Sadler’s Wells stallion Not Impossible (Ire) from the stakes-winning mare Bourbon Belle by Storm Boot, Not Bourbon displayed blazing speed at the outset of his career. He set a track record as a two-year-old at Woodbine on the all-weather surface for six furlongs when he won the Bull Page Stakes in 1:08.84. Early in his sophomore campaign, Not Bourbon won the Queenston before his Trial and Plate wins. He later won the Overskate Stakes in the fall and was named the Sovereign Award winning Three-Year-Old Male for 2008.
After missing 2009, Not Bourbon won an allowance race in 2010 and was soon retired to stud with earnings of $1,103,050. Not Bourbon stood his first few seasons at stud at Norse Ridge Farm near King City and then was moved to Colebrook Farm in Uxbridge in 2014. Not Bourbon went to BC to stand at Emerald Acres and then Flying Horse in 2020.
From 12 crops of racing age, Not Bourbon has sired stakes winners Internal Bourbon, Conquest Strate Up, last year’s graded stakes-placed Awesome Bourbon, an earner of over $300,000, 17-time winner Bachelor Pad and stakes-placed Indiantown Sunrise, Broadway Bonnie and Green Freedom.
In a statement, Flying Horse Farm, owned by Lois Bennett and the late Russell Bennett, noted, “Not Bourbon will be remembered for his talent as a racehorse and his contributions to breeding in both Ontario and British Columbia.”
More News
