April 29 - Barbaro

I guess everybody has that one horse that means more to them than any other and it might have taken almost 20 years for me to realize to what degree that is the case with Barbaro.

The story begins with my friendship with Anne Peters, who was the pedigree expert at Three Chimneys. One of their top stallions, Dynaformer, was about 20 years old and they really wanted to find the best of his sons to hopefully replace him in the stallion barn someday. Anne started talking about Barbaro as a two-year-old. He was absolutely dominate and had the physique of muscular physique of his giant sire. As Anne described watching Barbaro as a two-year-old, it was like a man among boys. Through his two-year-old campaign, he only raced on the turf. His three-year-old campaign would begin down in South Florida at Gulfstream Park. His first race would be in the Holy Bull. We would find out then how he acclimated to the dirt track; not sure we learned much as the monsoons moved over Gulfstream and the track was standing water. Barbaro sloshed through it and again crushed the competition, but what would he do on a dry fast track?

I was back at Gulfstream for the Florida Derby. This was the first year with the new track at Gulfstream. The old facility had been torn down. The meet was run out of tents, but the first thing Frank Stronach did was put in a new track and new dorms for the workers.

It was a bright sunny day, fast track, and Barbaro held off Sharp Humor (son of Distorted Humor) to claim the G1 Florida Derby. I was in the saddling area and because Anne had put me onto Barbaro more than six months earlier, he was the one I was glued to, then I realized I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was magnificent. To this day, people ask who the most impressive horse that I've ever seen was. (I've seen a few / understatement) and Barbaro is the one I still compare all horses to.

His Kentucky Derby was a very professional race. He took care of business in an almost leisurely fashion as he bounded into the sky with each stride.

The day after the Kentucky Derby would be the first time that I would paint live at Old Friends' Homecoming event. It was still at their old farm in Midway, KY. My brother had gotten photos from down by the rail and I started drawing at about 7:00 in the morning for the evening event. I was able to get Edgar Prado and Barbaro drawn by pencil directly on the canvas, which I don't normally do. Then, I started painting and over the course of the next 12 hours, I was only able to get Edgar and the upper body of Barbaro painted. The legs were just drawn in pencil. When the painting was auctioned, it was the top selling item.

We know Barbaro broke down at the start of the Preakness and it was heartbreaking. His owners, the Jacksons, did everything for the next eight months to save him. Ultimately, it was Laminitis that he succumbed to. There had been hope that he might have a stallion career, but it wasn't to be.

That year, I started traveling across the country painting live at charity events. Often Roy and Gretchen Jackson were there as well. I think over the next year I will probably paint Barbaro more than 10 times. I painted him in Ocala, in Kentucky, in New York, in California and in Pennsylvania; so much of those monies went to Laminitis and research charities.

This painting that I've posted belongs to Roy and Gretchen now. I've made post cards of it many times. The Jacksons received thousands of cards from well-wishers to which Gretchen responded to everyone with a handwritten note - a note written on this postcard. She wrote nearly 7,000 postcards! I've had people show me their Barbaro cards from Gretchen. I guess all these years later, Barbaro is the best I ever saw. Need further proof, go to Churchill Downs where you are greeted by the Alexa King's sculpture of Barbaro. It is spectacular. I have one of the post cards of this painting from Gretchen. She sent it to me, and it said that when they asked her thoughts on what the sculpture should look like, she says that she sent them this postcard and told them that it should look like this. Now, that's my favorite keepsake.