Charles and Susan Chu recognized as New Owner of the Year
Charles and Susan Chu, who race under the name Baoma Corp., have been chosen as the 2017 New Owner of the Year by OwnerView, honoring a new Thoroughbred owner who has had success on the track and a positive impact on the industry.
The award recognizes an entity that has owned Thoroughbreds for less than four years, had an interest in a horse at the time it won a stakes race in the past 12 months, and has a verifiable owner’s license in the current year. It will be presented during OwnerView’s Thoroughbred Owner Conference, scheduled for Oct. 30–Nov. 1 in Del Mar, Calif.
The Chus are best known as the owners of champion sprinter Drefong, who won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.
Other notable runners campaigned by the Chus include Grade 3 winner Chitu, who ran in the 2014 Kentucky Derby; Grade 2 winner Faypien; and Grade 3 winners Lord Simba and Super Ninety Nine. Their runners are trained by Bob Baffert.
Off the racetrack, the Chus have been significant donors to Old Friends Equine Retirement, based in Georgetown, Ky. They donated $20,000 to the operation in December and contributed another $10,000 this summer from Drefong’s purse earnings after winning the Grade 1 Forego Stakes.
Outside of the racing industry, the Chu family is involved in pleasure riding and show jumping, investing in Olympic-level jumpers and partnering with international riders. The Chus are natives of Taiwan and reside in Massachusetts.
The New Owner of the Year award has been presented in previous years to Sol Kumin and LNJ Foxwoods.