Sophomore Pointed to $75,000 Star de Naskra July 30 at Laurel
Breeder-Owner Davison Wins Sunday with Gelding Inside Stunt
LAUREL, MD – Though it won’t be next weekend, undefeated 3-year-old colt Super Love will take another step in his promising career when he jumps up to face stakes competition in his return to racing.
Breeder-owner John Davison said Super Love, by 2010 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Super Saver, will bypass the $100,000 Concern July 2 and be directed instead to the $75,000 Star de Naskra July 30. Both races are for sophomores sprinting seven furlongs at Laurel Park, but the Star de Naskra is restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses.
“That’s what we’re pointing for,” Davison said. Davison and Eunhee Kim, who share ownership in Super Love, were winners with Mike Geralis-trained Inside Stunt ($23.80) in Race 2 Sunday, a starter-optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the Dahlia turf course. It was the 3-year-old homebred gelding’s first try on grass.
“It’s always better to run on your home turf,” he added. “I think [Super Love] really likes the dirt at Laurel. He really seemed to relish that going the other day. It seemed to be sort of powdery, and he sort of liked that. He was able to get through that because he’s such a strong horse, I think.”
The connections, including trainer Damon Dilodovico, have already passed up the chance to run in a stakes this year. Super Love was nominated to the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) May 21 on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard, but they opted to wait for a June 19 allowance at Laurel where he romped by 8 ¾ lengths while beating his elders.
“I’m not sure it’s any easier running against older horses in a two-other-than. You still have horses that run really fast numbers and horses that are in there for $35,000 that have won five races,” Davison said. “I think running against your own generation, 3-year-olds, really makes sense. There’s some decent Maryland-breds around, so we’ll see.”
Unraced at 2, Super Love graduated at first asking in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight April 12 and followed up with an optional claiming allowance victory May 5, both coming by 1 ½ lengths at Laurel and neither as the betting favorite.
“I can tell you that when he won the first time out, it was a surprise. What was most surprising was the amount of speed that he showed, because he’s such a big horse. We were running against a Brittany Russell horse [Sugar Gray Leonard] and those are usually somewhat invincible. But, as it turned out, we got the jump on him and he followed us around,” Davison said.
“The second race, I wasn’t as confident. I didn’t know whether the first time was just a one-time thing or not. He was coming back pretty quickly and you never know what to expect after they run well the first time out. But he won that, and that was good,” he added. “I really thought the other day was going to really be the test of what he was as a horse.”
Super Love aced the test, hustled out to an early two-length lead under regular rider Horacio Karamanos then opened up through the stretch under a hand ride to win in 1:03.79 for 5 ½ furlongs as the even-money favorite. Trainer Tim Keefe’s Goldenize was a distant second, a neck ahead of Jebologist, half of a Jamie Ness-trained entry.
“When you looked at the race, it was really tough,” Davison said. “There were a couple of Jamie Ness horses that looked like they could run, and Tim Keefe’s horse had been running some nice numbers, too. I just really felt like if he was going to show himself as a good horse this was going to be his breakout race, and it was. So, we were very excited. He could have very easily gone the other way … but he’s a pretty nice horse.”
Foaled April 18, 2019, Super Love is part of Super Saver’s second-to-last crop before he and Daredevil were sold by WinStar Farm in November 2019 for stud duty in Turkey, where he stands for $13,200 (U.S.). Super Saver has sired multiple Grade 1 winners led by champions Letruska and Runhappy, as well as Happy Saver and Competitive Edge.
“He stood for $35,000 the year we bred to him. We bred to him for $30,000. I think he had been $50,000 a year or two before,” Davison said. “Size has always been an issue with his horses. They tend to have a large frame. Other than Letruska, they really haven’t had long careers. I hope that’s not what happens with this horse, but you never know.
“I think he’s a good horse to be around,” he added. “Occasionally, he’ll remind you that he’s the big dog. But, I think generally he’s pretty pleasant and pretty sensible.”
Super Love got to the races earlier than his two older siblings, also out of the Not For Love Mare Fancy Love. Love Dust, an El Padrino mare, didn’t debut until she was 4 and went winless in eight starts. Patient Game got started in November of his 3-year-old season and has had one start this year, a Feb. 25 maiden triumph at Laurel, and is working his way back to the races.
Super Love was first with Goree Smith at the Elloree Training Center in South Carolina before being sent to Phil Thommen, who handles Davison’s horses at Glade Valley in Frederick, Md. The colt joined Dilodovico at Laurel in mid-December, and is one of four horses he has for Davison.
Davison, 58, is a native of Baltimore whose family’s racing roots run deep in Maryland. His late grandfather, Ben Cohen, owned Pimlico from 1952 to 1986 with his older brother, Herman. Ben and Zelda Cohen also bred and owned horses, including 1965 Belmont and Travers winner Hail to All.
Davison’s mother, Rosalee Davison, was a longtime owner-breeder who campaigned Hear Us Roar, the Maryland-bred champion filly of 2004, and six-figure earners Experts Only, 2011 Squan Song winner Art of the Hunt, Tamayo and Grand Valley.
“I started going to the track when I was 5, betting my quarters and half-dollars with a friend, and my mother threw in the other dollar to make it a $2 bet,” Davison said. “I went to the track a lot with my grandfather, to the actual races, but also going to the barn in the morning to see his horses wherever they were stabled.”
That included tagging along with his grandfather to see the horses he kept at Halcyon Farm off Greenspring Avenue in Baltimore with his friend Fred Colwill, a three-time Maryland Hunt Cup winner and longtime racing official in Maryland who passed away in 1988. Ben Cohen died in 1994 at age 94.
“It was awesome,” Davison said. “We used to have a really great Preakness party the Friday night before the race. We had it at the Suburban Club, the country club off Park Heights Avenue. All the trainers and everyone would come. The trainers always said then that they enjoyed the Preakness. It was always their favorite part of the Triple Crown. It’s a little more folksy here.”
Davison graduated from Georgetown and went to work as an accountant before joining the family business, Mt. Royal Management Co., which can trace its origins back to Ben and Herman Cohen in the 1930s. Eventually he found himself on the backstretch and even trained horses between July 1992 and April 1995 before going back to Mt. Royal, where he is a partner and chief investment officer.
“I loved it, but it was obvious that there was going to be a better opportunity for me in the family business. It was going to be a long haul in training, and I have to say I didn’t miss getting up at 4:30 in the morning and basically having a prolific allergy attack every day I went to work. I still can’t really be around the horses very much,” Davison said. “But, I love it.
“I sort of put it down for a while and then I started to dabble a little bit again, and then I didn’t, and then I did. It’s hard to get out of your system,” he added. “Fortunately my parents always had horses. I bred and managed their horses, so I didn’t have to get so involved. I decided as my parents were aging and were sort of phasing out their breeding operation, it was time for me to maybe dabble in the breeding business on my own. It started with this one mare [Fancy Love].”
Mystic Love is Davison’s best horse to date as an owner, winning the Selima at Laurel Park and Dania Beach at Gulfstream Park in 2012 en route to being named the Maryland-bred juvenile filly champion. A $21,000 yearling, she earned more than $186,000 in purses before being sold at Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic December 2013 mixed sale and going on to race five more times in 2014.
Davison’s latest venture has him involved in pinhooking, teaming up with bloodstock agent Erin Wismer. In 2020, the partners purchased a Twirling Candy filly for $40,000 at Keeneland’s September sale and sold her for $200,000 last spring at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.
Their second investment proved to be even better. A Girvin filly they purchased for $90,000 at auction last summer sold for $725,000 May 23 at Timonium. They also sold a Good Magic colt for $185,000 and a Classic Empire filly for $100,000 at the same sale.
“That was quite a shock, I’ll tell you that. You never plan on that,” Davison said. “That was exciting. Not as exciting as owning a horse that’s winning for you, believe me. Yes, it’s nice to turn a profit and, yes, it’s nice to turn a significant profit. But, the excitement is in the sport.”