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.