Generazios double up in Turf Sprint with Disco Partner, Pure Sensation

Many breeders spend their entire lives trying to produce one horse with the chops to make it to the Breeders’ Cup. This year, Frank and Patricia Generazio have two in the same race.

The Generazios will send two homebreds to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint– Disco Partner, who broke the world-record time for six furlongs on turf in the Grade 3 Jaipur Invitational at Belmont, and Pure Sensation, who comes off a win in the Grade 3 Turf Monster Handicap at Parx Racing. Christophe Clement trains both.

Despite their similar paths and backgrounds, Frank Generazio said the two horses are night and day on the track.

“Pure Sensation is a big, strong horse and has a ton of speed,” he said. “He should be close to the lead or on it. Disco Partner comes from behind. He gets in good position and makes one run at the end. Hopefully, that’s what will happen.”

While born a year apart and in different states – 6-year-old Pure Sensation in Florida and 5-year-old Disco Partner in New York – they were both raised at Helen and Joe Barbazon’s Pleasant Acres Farm in Morriston, Fla.

The Generazios have been friends and clients of the Barbazons for about three decades. In addition to boarding the Generazios’s homebreds, the Barbazons have co-bred several horses with them, and sold them Presious Passion, a multiple Grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up.

“They must be so proud of themselves for having so many great homebreds,” Helen Barbazon said. “They have done better with their homebreds than most people do with these horses they buy for millions. I told both of them, ‘My gosh, what you guys have done. No one does this. This is phenomenal.’ They just look at me and smile, but I think it’s amazing.”

Barbazon said both horses were identified as standouts during their time at Pleasant Acres, but guessing either of the two would be Breeders’ Cup-bound would have been a stretch of the imagination.

Barbazon fondly recalled Disco Partner’s record-breaking Jaipur effort in June, where he stopped the clock in a blazing 1:05.67 to win by a half-length.

“We couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Like so many people, we said, ‘What? Was that right?’ It was crazy. He’s not big, but there were a lot of great horses that were small.

“We just had dinner the other night, and Mrs. Generazio said a lot of people call him ‘the squirt,’ but he is fast.”

While both entrants bring strong credentials into their Breeders’ Cup tilt, Generazio said the five-furlong distance of the Turf Sprint could favor of Pure Sensation.

Disco Partner, “six or seven furlongs would be right up his alley. Pure Sensation has won most of his races at five or 5 1/2 furlongs. We’re just hoping it’s some nice dry turf and fast, and we can go from there.”