Generazios Living Vicariously Through Pure Sensation

Patricia Generazio and her husband, the former Midlantic-based trainer Frank, may still be a little jet-lagged, having made the 15-hour trip to Hong Kong from the U.S. East Coast earlier this week. But the couple were plain old giddy Thursday, clearly relishing the opportunity that awaits them and their homebred Pure Sensation (Zensational) in Sunday's G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint.

“This is our first time here and we're very happy. It's a lovely, lovely place,” Mrs. Generazio commented a handful of minutes before the gray drew gate 11 in a field of 14 for the 1200-meter test. “We're really proud to have the only horse running to represent the U.S. so we've got our fingers crossed.”

It isn't the first time the Generazios have been invited to the International Races meeting. In 2009, they toyed with the idea of sending over their wildly popular front-runner Presious Passion (Royal Anthem) for the G1 Hong Kong Vase. But the lure of a big payday in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic won out, a decision they sort of wish they had to make again, as it turns out.

“That was a bad idea,” Pat Generazio related. “They put an inch of water on the track the day of the race and Presious Passion wanted it like this,” she said, pointing to the concrete underfoot. “But that was yesterday and today is a new day.”

With that in mind and despite a minor injury cloud owing to a left hind foot abscess, they are looking forward to the weekend.

“He won't let us down, he'll be in the top three or four–at least we hope he will,” said Frank Generazio. “There are a lot of variables. He's going the 'wrong' way for the first time, but he seems to be handling it alright and seems to be doing well.”

The couple is also fiercely proud in being represented by a homebred product.

“It's very special to be here with a horse we bred,” Mrs. Generazio acknowledged.

Added Mr. Generazio, “There is a difference in breeding a horse and running in a race like this and buying one at auction. You just have a special feeling and we're just hoping he can prove us right.”