Dr. Naveed Chowhan achieved a lifelong dream on Aug. 29, when his homebred Hymn won the Aug. 29 Forego Stakes (G1). In doing so, Hymn earned a fees-paid entry in the Oct. 31. Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1). Bred by Chowhan’s Fleur de Lis Stables, the four-year-old gelding races for that operation, William S. Sparks, and Bret Jones.
Chowhan also races five-year-old mare Queen's Martini, fifth in the Oct. 3 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) at Keeneland. Earlier this season, she annexed the April 25 Dig A Diamond Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
A doctor of hematology and oncology, Chowhan grew up riding. As it turned out, his medical practice wound up being located in New Albany, Indiana, just a few miles from Louisville. He added, “So once I moved there, there was no way for me to stay away from horses. I, along with another doctor friend of mine, went ahead and got a horse together by the name of Deep Gold, probably back in somewhere in the '90s, and he went on to become a grade three winner [of the 2000 Deputy Minister Handicap].”
Bernie Flint trained Chowhan’s horses until his retirement. At that point, on Flint’s recommendation, Chowhan sent his runners to conditioner Ron Moquett. Through Flint, Chowhan also began breeding; he also moved to a small farm in Louisville in 2007. He keeps his broodmares at his nursery most of the year, but when it’s time to breed and foal, they head to Crestwood Farm in Lexington.
Chowhan purchased Hymn’s dam, Salt Bae (by Paynter), as a yearling. He said, “I think Bernie had trained a lot of family members of Salt Bae. She was a pretty nice, big filly that he liked, so he had invited me to buy her.” When it came time to evaluate potential mates for Salt Bae, Chowan opted for McKinzie . It didn’t hurt that he campaigned the young stallion’s dam, multiple grade 2 victress Runway Model (by Petionville). “At Crestwood, Robert Keck is the one who does their breeding and all. He usually presents me with three different options for each mare, and obviously when McKinzie was a good match, and when I saw that, I jumped on it,” Chowhan remembered.
The resulting McKinzie-Salt Bae colt, Hymn, won first time out in the spring of his three-year-old year. As a result, Chowhan said, “there were really good hopes with him, but then obviously he ran a little late, so everyone wants to get to the Derby. All of a sudden, we started putting him in longer races and he did okay, but we knew that he would not be able to get the distance.”
As it turned out, the challenge with Hymn ran a bit deeper. Chowhan explained, “Even when we tried the smaller distance, he was more, in terms of during the stretch, trying to fight with the horses rather than run. And Ron tells me that in the barn, he just was interested in the fillies rather than training.”
As a result, Hymn was gelded earlier this year. Chowhan said, “Again, Ron tells me he still thinks he’s a stallion at the barn, but on the track, he’s really concentrating much more.” In fact, he’s turned into the horse his owner and trainer knew he could be. On June 27, Hymn won the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes before placing in the July 25 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes (G2) and winning the Forego.
Unfortunately, a family friend’s wedding conflicted with the Forego, Chowhan recalled. “I wiggled and cried and all that, telling my wife that maybe I should just go in the morning and try to come back in the evening. Obviously, there are no direct flights between Louisville and Albany, New York,” he said with a laugh, “and then my wife didn’t budge. She said, ‘No, we have to attend this wedding.’ So we did not make it to the biggest race of my life; I did not make it out. But the good thing is that because of the wedding, all my children were in town, so we were all together when we watched the race.” He added, “We were all together, and as he came down the stretch, there was so much noise that I’m sure that, even though we live on a small farm, I’m sure our neighbors heard us. It was fun being with everyone in the family and watching it.”
