He has ties to a Kentucky Derby champion. He won Manitoba’s highest profile race with a horse named after a Stanley Cup champion. He also happens to be one of the most successful breeders in his home province.
It was 36 years ago when Ziprick caught the horseracing bug. His best friend at the time was the son of legendary Manitoba horseman, Cliff “Shorty” Gray. After a summer trip to the racetrack in Saskatchewan, it didn’t take long for Ziprick to know he’d one day be part of the thoroughbred scene.
“There was something about it that was just so exciting,” recalls Ziprick, whose first horse as an owner was Christmas Hill, ridden by champion jockey Irwin Driedger, who now handles duties as Woodbine’s Director of Racing Surfaces. “I was just completely hooked.”
From mucking stalls to grooming horses, Ziprick eventually landed the assistant trainer role to Gray. “We were very close,” notes Ziprick. “I bought his farm in 1999 before he passed away. I learned a great deal from him. He taught me a lot about the horses and the business.”
Gray’s keen eye for picking out horses at the sales was passed on to Ziprick. One horse in particular, a gallant-looking grey, stands out as the most memorable.
“I was fairly young and didn’t have a lot of money, but I was looking for one that we might be able to get at a decent price and turn around and sell for a decent profit,” recalls Ziprick. “A friend of mine, Tim Gardiner, who was down in Ocala (Florida) galloping for the winter, called me up one day. There was something in his voice that really struck me. “I found one,” he said. “He’s $30,000. You have to buy him.”
The horse was named Silver Charm, a “big, good-looking colt,” remembers Ziprick. “We put him in the March sale,” remembers Ziprick. “He looked amazing and we hoped we would get $100,000. We didn’t. We flew back home to Winnipeg and sent Silver Charm to layover at J.B. and Kevin McKathon’s farm in Florida until a ride home was available. Then, a few days later, I got a call from J.B. saying (owners) Bob and Beverley Lewis wanted to buy the horse. We didn’t get the $100,000, but it was fairly close at $85,000.”
It was a solid return on investment. But, as Ziprick somewhat grudgingly admits, there was no way of knowing what was in store for Silver Charm.
In 1997, the son of Silver Buck wowed the racing world, taking the Kentucky Derby and Preakness before finishing second in the Belmont, winning two thirds of the U.S. Triple Crown. He would go on to win champion three-year-old colt honours that same year.
In 24 career races, Silver Charm reached the winner’s circle 12 times, along with seven seconds and two thirds. He won the 1998 Dubai World Cup and amassed just shy of $7-million in lifetime earnings. “I see it as like you have the winning lottery ticket and you left it in your pants and threw it in the wash,” laughs Ziprick. “It’s a heck of a story.”
While none of his horses have matched Silver Charm’s exploits, Ziprick, the leading consignor in Manitoba the past eight years, has experienced his fair share of success. In recent times, it’s been a horse named after the tallest player to ever skate in the NHL, 6’9′ Boston Bruins defenceman, Zdeno Chara.
“My youngest son, Aiden, he is a huge Chara fan,” notes Ziprick, who along with his wife, Sherisse, also have another son, Keaton. “He has a lot of pictures of him in his room. We wanted to name the horse Chara, but that didn’t go through. Instead, we named him Zdeno.”
Either way, Zdeno, the horse, is very much an imposing sort like his hockey-playing namesake. He’s perfect after four career starts, including a win in the $50,000 Winnipeg Futurity this September. “He’s a really good one,” says Ziprick, of the Manitoba-bred son of Milwaukee Brew. “We actually sent a win picture to Zdeno Chara. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get a response from him.”
Ziprick won’t have the luxury of waiting patiently for a return letter. He has plenty on his plate, in the form of three stallions, four two-year-olds, 13 mares and 12 weanlings to tend to on his farm.
“There are a lot of question marks when it comes to the future of racing in Manitoba,” offers Ziprick. “You can’t really say just how things will turn out. But, I haven’t lost my love for the sport or that feeling you get when you see one of your horses cross the wire first.”
It’s a feeling Cam Ziprick knows a thing or two about.
