A Generational Shift at Keeneland January

In Italian, `generazio' means a generation, and so it's likely no coincidence that `generation' is the word to which Conrad Bandoroff continues to return when talking about the complete dispersal of Patricia Generazio's stock.

That dispersal, of which the first nine racing or broodmare prospects sell Monday at Keeneland, totals 43 entered at the Keeneland January sale sold under the Denali Stud banner.

Massachusetts natives, Generazio and her husband Frank got their racing start in New England, where Frank ran the family owned New England Sand and Gravel Company. He fell in love with Thoroughbred racing and was very involved in the sport for 50 years, serving as the president of the New England HBPA for almost a decade, and training his own horses for a time. In New England, the Generazios campaigned the graded stakes winner Concorde Bound. In later years, they moved their string to New York, New Jersey and Florida, racing horses with trainer Christophe Clement, among others. Trainer Mary Hartman campaigned their multiple Grade I winner Presious Passion, who ran over a remarkable eight seasons, earning over $2.5 million. They also campaigned graded stakes winners Disco Partner, Pure Sensation and Discreet Marq. Frank Generazio died in November, 2020, at the age of 91.

“Patricia and Frank have had tremendous success in the game,” said Bandoroff. “They enjoyed it thoroughly for many years, and there are generations of families that they've cultivated. But she has gotten to a point where I think the operation has grown to be almost overwhelming, and she felt that it was perhaps the right time to close it down. She had accumulated a lot of horses and I think from her perspective, it was the right time to kind of say, `okay, let's wrap this up.'”

Among those on offer Monday is the 5-year-old mare Mischievous Dream (Into Mischief), who sells as hip 98 as a racing or broodmare prospect. “She won the Sorority S. at Monmouth at two, and was stakes-placed at three,” said Bandoroff. “She won on debut for the Clements in Saratoga. She is just coming off her career-best Beyer in a race at the end of October up in New York and she's a big, pretty filly, very attractive, very clean-legged, and vets well. She's got a nice broodmare pedigree underneath her with her stakes performances, but has some run left if someone wanted to keep going with her.”

Denali will also offer Pure Bode (Bodemeister) on their behalf, a 6-year-old broodmare prospect who sells as hip 147.

“She has been very productive on the track,” said Bandoroff. “She is a hard-knocking filly who has won $180,000 and is a half to their multiple-graded stakes winner Pure Sensation (Zensational), from their broodmare Pure Disco. She comes from one of these multi-generational Generazio families. She really exemplifies what their program has been: these hard-knocking mares, really limited opportunities in terms of the stud fees and the stallions they've been bred to, but tremendous success getting the results on the racetrack and producing high-quality graded stakes horses.”

The genesis of the dispersal started with the idea of selling a few broodmares, but soon blossomed into the entire operation. “We have sold some horses that she had in training with the Clements and Christophe and Miguel have always been good friends of ours, and they're the ones who made the introduction,” Bandoroff said. “The dispersal started with three racing or broodmare prospects that the Clements had for Mrs .Generazio that we entered and then Mrs. Generazio said, `actually, you know, I think I want to sell everything.'”

In addition to Mischievous Dream and Pure Bode, more than 40 others will be offered over the course of the rest of the sale, and several more at Fasig-Tipton February.

Bandoroff said that dissolution of a life's work was a responsibility he didn't take lightly.

“It's something we take very seriously, because it encompassed a good portion of a lifetime, of cultivating these families,” he said. “Mrs. Generazio was very involved in mating the mares and she deserves a lot of credit for the success that the program has had. I think that it is certainly going to be hard for her over the next couple of days to watch some of these horses be sold, but that's the cycle of life, isn't it? But there are going to be plenty of opportunities from people who respect the program the Generazios put together over the years and recognize that they have done well.”