I really don't know what to write with today's painting; the story behind what inspired me to finally pull out the necessary reference photo is a dark one, one that seems so glaringly out of place during a week which is supposed to be a celebration of Canadian racing: Queen's Plate week.
Like many others, yesterday I learned of the death of Wake at Noon, a Canadian champion. He was thirteen, and died on the racetrack, when he never should have been on the racetrack. He was supposed to be enjoying a well-deserved retirement (some of us think winning $1.6 million should pay for that), not find himself the victim of a freak accident after his connections apparently lied about his identity (purely speculation on my part) to even get him on the backstretch. At thirteen, he wasn't eligible to race at Woodbine - or even allowed to been on the grounds. But nothing stays secret at the track for long.
Anyway...I won't ramble on. I took the reference photo for this on Plate Day ten years ago, and I've often looked at it over the years and thought he's a horse I'll paint one day. I never though it would be under these circumstances. So here he is, a rapid-fire tribute to an awesome horse, and a sad reminder of how pathetic the human race can be.
10 x 8 oil on Artfix linen.
4 comments:
I'm curious as to how they got him on the track. Been reading about this and you would think that someone would have recognized him.
I'm sure once he was on the track he was recognized. And I don't think it would be that hard to get him on the track. One only needs an in slip authorized by the trainer - security doesn't go on the trailer and actually check the horse's ID. So either they lied about his ID (saying it was a different horse who had papers in the office) or they said they were turning him into a pony horse. That's my speculation, anyway!
Thanks for the painting. It's beautiful. So sad you were finally prompted to doing it by regrettable and avoidable circumstances.
If there is an upside to this issue, at least the horse didn't vanish in West Virginia like others owned by said "BS". You'd think anyone who owned a large riding facility would have taken an alternative track for his X racers.
Your portait is gorgeous by the way.
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