Eye of the Eye of the Leopard!

Well...today was such that it was 9pm before I started to even decide what I was going to paint, so I went with small, and a tight crop from one of my images of the Plate winner yesterday. And look, it's another eye! Sorry about that. ;-)

Keeping this post short because I still have to clean brushes and get out to the barn and have another full day tomorrow. So this is 5 x 7 oil on Raphael linen panel, and my subject is 2009 Queen's Plate winner Eye of the Leopard.

The 150th Queen's Plate: The Leopard is Spot-on

Summer showed up just in time to help us celebrate the 150th running of the Queen's Plate, held at Woodbine yesterday. The weather was perfect, and there was an impressive crowd on hand. It's been a fun experience, being so closely connected to a Plate horse, even if we didn't get the fairytale ending we were hoping for. Yep, the Giant got it!


It looked like Mr. Foricos Two U was going to win, after leading down the stretch, but the big bay colt got up on the outside to win by a neck. Mr. Foricos Two U held off the filly Milwaukee Appeal for second, and the other filly, Tasty Temptation, was just a jump behind in forth.


Sam-Son Farms is really a giant in Canadian Racing, but it's hard to begrudge them another Plate victory - they are always so gracious and they've been through some really tough times in the last while. So congratulations to the winning Queen's Plate team! They are even based in Milton, Ontario, which technically is where my farm is. Eurico da Silva rode his first Plate winner with this colt, and it wasn't too hard to see how excited he was about that.

For Ziggy, well, now that he's run in the Plate, he can now go break his maiden. ;-) It's still quite an accomplishment to get a horse to the Plate.

I know I said I would be posting yesterday, but that just didn't happen. So today there will be two posts...and rest assured, the second one will have a painting! See you later!

The Giant

If I was going to pick the Plate winner this year on looks alone, it would be Eye of the Leopard. He's big and handsome, everything you would expect from a royally-bred Sam-Son runner. He's the one you'd think had 'destiny' stamped all over him. His downfall is he's lightly-raced, and probably just beginning to come into himself. He kind of makes me think of the kid who's gone to a private all-boys school and has just entered the next level of education where he's bumping shoulders with the 'common people.' It could mean he gets his butt kicked tomorrow, or he could prove he is everything he's supposed to be, given that privileged status.

Eye of the Leopard was expected to be favoured for the Plate after his Trial win, but the appearance of Milwaukee Appeal dislodged him to second choice. After painting Ziggy yesterday, I could have written a David and Goliath comparison today. It's not that Ziggy isn't well-bred and good-looking, but he does come in as the 'little guy' longshot next to the big-time outfit and breeding of Eye of the Leopard!

This painting is 8 x 10 oil on panel, and it kind of painted itself, much like Ziggy's painting yesterday. That's the last of the Plate hopefuls I'm going to paint, at least before the race, so we're just about ready for the big day! Post time is 5:30pm and CBC is broadcasting this year, starting at 4:30pm. I will have a post tomorrow, but I'm not guaranteeing a painting! That will depend on whether or not I'm able to get a second one done today, because tomorrow, I'll be kind of busy!

Three Weeks to Plate Day!

Eye of the Leopard

Having the best horse a week before Plate Day didn’t mean a single thing — it came right down to the day itself...

Southdale

I'm quoting myself above, a line I wrote for a story about a horse on that long road to the Queen's Plate. Today, we're three weeks – twenty-one days – from the 150th running of the longest continually run sporting event in North America: the 'Gallop for the Guineas' ...or, fifty gold sovereigns, and about a million dollars, these days. The Plate Trial was run today at Woodbine, as well as a maiden race with a few Plate hopefuls. It's not unheard of for a maiden to win the Plate, hence my recall of those words above. The horse that yesterday might have been the favourite most likely will not be, come Plate Day. And everyone knows the favourite doesn't always win!

El Brujo

The Trial was won by a gorgeous horse with an equally beautiful pedigree: Eye of the Leopard, owned by Sam-Son Farms. He caught second choice Southdale for the win, while favourite El Brujo disappointed to be ninth in a ten-horse field.


In that maiden race, we cheered on another Plate prospect, who ran out of room and missed his first victory by a whisker. Will he be among the starters in the big race on June 21? He could have used that extra eighth of a mile today!

Tomorrow, I begin my third Thirty Horses, Thirty Days, and part of my motivation for getting to the track today was to take photos so I can paint the Plate hopefuls leading up to the race. We'll see if I cover all the bases, or if someone else altogether comes through in the end!