Robert S. Evans

Thirty-three years after watching Pleasant Colony, who was bred and raced by his father Thomas Mellon Evans’ Buckland Farm, be denied the Triple Crown by losing to Summing in the 1981 Belmont Stakes, Robert “Shel” Evans’s lightly-raced Tonalist denied California Chrome the Triple Crown by beating him in the Belmont. Tonalist’s broodmare sire is Pleasant Colony.

In the press conference following Tonalist’s victory, Evans told reporters, “Yesterday I went to my father’s grave and thanked him for putting me in the position to be doing this. We had high hopes for Pleasant Colony [in the Belmont Stakes] and it was very quiet after he didn’t win.”

Family is an important fabric in Evans’s life. His dad was a cousin of Paul Mellon, the incredibly popular owner, breeder, and philanthropist. Evans, now 70, owned 1992 Champion Older Male Pleasant Tap with his brothers Edward (“Ned”), who bred Horse of the Year Saint Liam and bred and raced Grade 1 winner Quality Road, and Thomas Jr.

Shel Evans graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 and received a master’s degree from the Columbia Business School in 1969. He is the chairman of Crane Co., an industrial company based in Stamford, Conn., and of Huttig Building Products in St. Louis.

Evans, who bought his first horse in 1965, has owned Courtland Farm in Easton, Maryland, for more than two decades. Among his top horses were Sewickley, who won the Grade 1 Vosburgh in 1989 and 1990 and the 1989 Grade 2 Tom Fool and Fall Highweight Handicap; and Shared Interest, who took the 1992 Grade 2 First Flight and the 1993 Grade 1 Ruffian. He bred Shared Interest and her daughter Cash Run, who won the 1999 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. He also bred Cash Run’s half-brother, multiple stakes winner Forestry. Evans sold Cash Run for $1.2 million. She was later sold as a broodmare for $7.1 million.

Always willing to give back to the industry, Evans served on The Jockey Club for 15 years and was a member of the New York Racing Association Board of Trustees for 12.

Shel and Susan Evans have three children – Michael, Ashley, and Jonathan – and two grandchildren. Asked after the Belmont if he ever is confused with the chairman of Churchill Downs Incorporated with the same name, he said, “My middle name is Sheldon and in Canada they call me Shel. Here, I’m Robert, which is his name.” He prefers Shel.

Patricia Generazio

The Generazios – Frank is 84, Pat is 78, and they’ve been married for 47 years and counting – have come a long way since they began racing horses at Suffolk Downs and Rockingham Park in New England.

They enjoyed great success with Presious Passion, who won 14 of 52 career starts, earning just under $2.7 million. “We were never fond of grass horses until Passion,” Pat said. The ten-year-old is now enjoying a sedate life. “He’s very happy in retirement,” Pat said. “He lives on the farm where he was born in Ocala.”

Discreet Marq, who is trained by Christophe Clement, has given the Generazios another reason to love turf racing. Before their homebred ventured to California to run in the $300,000 Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks, she had already won the Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont Park. The owners wanted to be in California for the Oaks, but doctors had told Pat not to fly following cataract surgery. So she and Frank, who used to train their horses, stayed at their summer home in Cape Cod and watched on TV. And they liked what they saw.

“When she won that race, I couldn’t believe it,” Pat said. “It was phenomenal. It’s a great feeling, especially when we raced and bred her dam (To Marquet) and her grandmother (Pretty Momma). We raced them all. They’re like part of our family. It’s a great family.”