Last year, Woodbine Entertainment initiated a contest to select “The Official Queen’s Plate Artist.” I did enter, what I thought was a beautiful painting of 2014 winner Lexie Lou, and was disappointed when it didn’t make the top five – after all, painting Canadian racehorses is what I do! Anyway, such is the life of the artist – we have to know how to handle rejection, because we don’t always fit with that the powers that be are looking for. I decided to enter again this year

Here’s another Canadian great I’ve now portrayed twice.  The same year I did the Northern Dancer painting, I donated a painting of Dance Smartly for that year’s Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame fundraiser.  This 14 x 11 oil was based on both my own photos, as well as some supplied to me by the Hall of Fame.  My own photos weren’t the best – taken during her racing days – so I was quite happy to have the additional references. Again, while both the originals are no longer av

I don’t know what it was that initiated my love for the Thoroughbred;  maybe it was Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books, or Margurite Henry’s stories about the Godolphin Arabian and Black Gold.  Either way, my horse-craziness was pretty focused from early on.  My favourite racehorse growing up was Norcliffe, winner of the ’76 Queen’s Plate, a son of Buckpasser – the likely inspiration being that Buckpasser, through Man o’ War, traced back to Matchem who was the Godolphin Ara