G. Watts Humphrey Jr. & Ian Banwell's St George Farm Racing

Personal Diary’s victory in the Del Mar Oaks was a celebration of family. Trainer Victoria Oliver is co-owner and co-breeder G. Watts Humphrey Jr.’s daughter.

And Humphrey, a co-owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, knows how to celebrate. In October 2011, the day after his Cardinals won the World Series, Humphrey became the leading owner at the Keeneland meet, quite a rare double.

Humphrey’s paternal grandfather, George M. Humphrey, served as President Eisenhower’s Secretary of the Treasury from 1953–1957 and was a prominent Thoroughbred owner.

Humphrey, a 70-year-old native of Cleveland, Ohio, is the president of a private investment company and several manufacturing companies in the Pittsburgh area.

Humphrey’s horses are raised at his 1,000-acre Shawnee Farm near Harrodsburg, Ky., 30 miles southwest of Lexington.

Humphrey and his partner, Ian Banwell, who races in the name of St. George Farm Racing, have had many horses together including Forest Legend, who finished fourth in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Born in Kampala, Uganda, the 51-year-old Banwell lived in India, England, and Kentucky growing up. His father was a British physician.

Banwell became interested in Thoroughbreds through veterinarian Bryan Boone, a life-long friend in Kentucky. Banwell worked for Bankers Trust, Chemical Bank in New York, then for Barclays Bank in Hong Kong before founding the Round Table Investment Management Company based in Charlotte, N.C. He is now the company’s CEO and Chief Investment Officer. In 1998, he joined Bank of America in 1998 and was named its chief investment officer two years later.

In 2006, Banwell began 100-acre St. George Farm in Charlotte. “St. George is the patron saint of England as well as horses and horsemen,” Banwell said.

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.”