OHIO’S HORSE OF THE YEAR MAKES IMPRESSIVE RETURN ON DERBY DAY

HMDC Partner Steve Chumney’s Smokin C LLC-bred Generous Lover put in an impressive performance before 147,406 race fans on May 3. No, it wasn’t an overflow of humanity crushing the grandstands of Belterra Park or Thistledown. It was the alcohol soaked and nattily attired throng at Churchill Downs. Ohio’s 2024 Horse of the Year got the respect of those attending the Kentucky Derby at the betting windows and was installed as the favorite in the $135,000 one-mile optional claiming event.

Generous Lover certainly brought legitimate credentials into the race. The $175,000 Ocala Breeders Sale purchase, sold as a 2-year-old and her connections raced her on the Fair Grounds/ Churchill Downs/ Oaklawn Park circuit. After breaking her maiden on the Churchill turf, she took the top spot in a $50,000 claiming stakes as a heavy favorite and was taken to the new barn of trainer Joe Sharp. She came back to win under the Twin Spires and Joe Sharp decided there was money to be had on the other side of the Ohio River, and so her championship trail began. Her home state debut saw her ease away from the field over Belterra’s greensward in the Vivacious Stakes. She followed that in the Pay The Man Best of Ohio Stakes and dominated the field by 12 1⁄2 lengths. Sharp ran her in a $200,000 event over the undulating Kentucky Downs course where she was brushed by the winner in the stretch and settled for the third spot. Back to Buckeye Land she took on the challenge of turning back to 6 furlongs on the Thistledown dirt. In one of the best Ohio races of the year, the Greg Veit Scarlet and Gray, she challenged Ohio Champion Sprinter Back to Ohio and the two raced in tandem throughout, with heavily favored Back to Ohio lasting in the final strides by a neck. The Smokin C LLC-bred closed out her season in Mahoning’s Best of Ohio in a field of seven, though the race appeared to be a walkover as she strode to a unheard-of - 26 1⁄4 length victory! That body of work not only earned her HOY honors but also captured the Champion Handicap Mare Division. She had established a multi-dimensional record of 12-6-1-2 for $319,970, that did not go unnoticed by the wagering public on Derby Day. Perhaps what was noticed was Sharp’s conditioning of the 5-year-old daughter of Bolt d’Oro-Hula Skirt-Dixie Union that caught the betting public’s attention. Since mid-March, Generous Lover recorded six solid published workouts, including two bullet works at Keeneland at 5 furlongs and a sloppy 4 furlongs just eight days before her 2025 debut over a

rain-soaked Churchill strip.

Jose Ortiz did not press for the lead from the 10-hole as the gates opened on the one-mile chute. They stalked five deep and outside early on and tucked down with five furlongs to go, and inched closer three-wide on the turn after clocking a sprite 1:10 4/5 for the first six panels. Ortiz then moved Generous Lover to the four path, led at the furlong marker and was outkicked by a D. Wayne Lukas trainee late while holding on for second money. It was quite an impressive seasonal debut for Steve Chumney’s homebred, let’s see what the Smokin C LLC foaling barn produces this year. With that start under her girth, look for

“The Champ” soon at an Ohio track near you!