GOLDEN TICKET
This could take a while, so you may just want to wait for the movie to come out.
My story on Golden Ticket starts on the day of the Travers in 2012. I wasn't in Saratoga. I was in Melbourne, FL. My daughter, Courtney and I were going to watch a semi pro football game with some boys from her high school. I had my attention on Saratoga all day, but was going to miss the race. Just as we are pulling up to the football field, Susan Rose, my better half calls me from Saratoga, New York. She's up there on business, but is standing in the paddock before the Travers. The horses have already left the paddock on their way to the starting gate and she says, "I can't get to the window in time, the lines are too long. Bet $10 across the board on the 3, no exactas, no trifectas, don't screw it up."
Three points worth noting . . .ok maybe four . . .
1) Susan is an equine body worker has a better eye for horse flesh and soundness of anybody I know and I know a few people.
2) Susan rarely, if ever bets on a horse race.
3) Susan has a history of picking long shots, if she can see the entire field (and we never let her see a racing form or the odds). We are talking several horses over 20-1 and a couple over 50-1 and 75-1. But, she feels badly if she can't pick the winner in every race . . . so, she doesn't bet.
4)Obviously, I must have a history of screwing up bets with exactas and trifectas.
Back to the Travers, I have no idea who the #3 is, but I assume it's Sheikh Mohammed's (Darley) Alpha who was the beast in the field. I asked Susan, if it was Alpha. "Would Alpha be at 35-1?" . . . ok, no, I'll place the bet. I try on my phone to place the bet online, but the systems are overwhelmed and I can't get connected. So, for the first and only time, I called the Twinspires help line and placed the bet with a human. I'm thinking this is a $30 bet, do I really want to loose $30 on a long shot, maybe I should box it for an exacta . . . .?? NO! if this #3 hits and I don't bet $10 to win/place/show or I screw it up with an exacta, "I got sum X-splainin' to do". I place the bet and as I'm about to hang up, the lady asks if there's anything else . . . "Yes, would you mind telling me the name of the horse I just bet on?" We chuckle . . she says, "Golden Ticket" . . . we chuckle some more.
The race goes off and I can't get any video of the Travers. Susan is giving me the live race call over the phone. "Golden Ticket is in the lead, it's a good size lead . . . oh, no, he's tiring . . . some one's catching him . . . oh . . . no, I don't know . . . if he held on or not."
A long time passed, until it was determined to be the first dead heat in the history of the Travers. The photo determined that Golden Ticket and Alpha hit the finish line together. Even with splitting the first place money, the payout on that $30 bet was several hundred dollars.
While most people in racing celebrate a win like that with champagne. I tend to celebrate with a letter of congratulations to the owners and polite nudge to remember me, if they ever want to paint the horse. The following week, I did my homework and learned that the horse was raced by Magic City Partners and trained by Kenny McPeek. I knew Kenny McPeek pretty well, but had never heard of Magic City partners. A little more research and they were some guys out in Montana. My information said the leader of the pack was a guy named Dan Fuchs and that's who I sent my letter.
A month or so goes by and all of our attention turns to the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita. Susan and I are going to head out there. We get to Los Angeles several days before the races to attend a few events, but I kept Thursday night wide open. . . because my San Diego Charger affliction must be appeased and they were playing the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. We find the sports bar closest to the race track and go watch the game. As we are watching the game we realize that the guys beside us are talking horses - shockingly - I pull myself away from the game to ask if they are in for the Breeders' Cup. They quickly and proudly announce that they own horses! "Who's your horse?"
"Golden Ticket" . . . . . . I will always mention what a small world the horse racing world is, but this just is nuts some times. We introduce ourselves and I learn that the main owner in the group is Carter Stewart. I quickly tell them the story about Susan calling me to bet on the #3 horse. We laugh . . . then, Carter looks at me . . . "Robert Clark? Are you the artist?" (I am) . . . "I have your letter on my desk that Dan gave me. I want to get you to paint Golden Ticket". A well written letter is one thing, but the luck of the universe and the common bond of football is a powerful force!
In talking about painting Golden Ticket, Carter was kind of bummed out over the fact that when the two horses hit the wire that Golden Ticket is covered up in most of the photos. "No, problem, we can take photos from the stretch while he is still in front."
"We can do that, can't we?!"
"Yeap, as a matter of fact, if you don't want Alpha in the painting, he doesn't have to be there. YOU are the boss - tell me what you want."
"I can't decide."
"What if we do both paintings, with Alpha and without Alpha for a discount to paint him twice?"
"Let's do it!"
And that is how I ended up painting Golden Ticket twice.
That may be the end of my piece of the Golden Ticket story, but Carter's version of the Travers story is seriously one of the funniest stories I have ever heard in the business. Golden Ticket is featured in the book, "A Brush With Greatness" and when Carter gave me his quote for the book, he literally sent me two pages typed telling the Travers story. The book was limited to a few lines and Ed Bowen and I went with a more gentile, proper quote that was a mere morsel of the comedy buffet.
Paraphrasing Carter's unabridged quote for the book.
Carter and his team were on their private jet heading from Montana to Texas for business, when the phone rang and it was Kenny McPeek calling to tell them that Golden Ticket was looking really good and that he thought they should run him in the Travers . . . "OK, what's that?"
"Just the biggest race for 3 year olds at Saratoga. It's their version of the Kentucky Derby."
The boys turned the plane and headed to Saratoga!
They landed at little air strip about 5 miles from the track. Carter called a for a taxi. What showed up was a mini van and they crammed about a half dozen beef fed boys into the van and made one stop on the way to the track. They hit the closest 7-11 and bought a case of beer.
Carter says when they pulled up, he opened the door and a couple beer cans rolled out onto the ground. He jumped out and got on his hands and knees as he fished the cans back out from under the mini van. As he was doing that another car pulled up beside them. Carter looked over and he was staring into the hub cap of a Roll Royce. He looked back and his buddies and said, "We're not in Kansas anymore."
The group milled around all day waiting for "THEIR" race, the Travers. The race went off and the dead heat happens. All of them are at the winner's circle before the outcome of the photo finish is determined. DEAD HEAT . . . and the boys were delirious!!!! We WON, We WON . . well, sort of . . . but We WON!!!!
(Throwing a note in here for reference, while this was the biggest day in their horse racing career. I have been told that Sheikh Mohammed took his portion of the Travers purse and gave it to the trainer to distribute amongst his workers, because is was NOT a win. . . . I don't know and if anyone can verify or correct that statement, please do.)
The actual quote that we use in the book, Carter makes reference to how "their little operation and the Sheikh's largest horse racing operation in the world could compete on the same turf . . . and that a tie is some how symbolic of how everyone has a chance in the sport of kings". ...... buy the book, that's not exactly what he said, but it's close enough for horseshoes.
Back to our Happy Boys ... as they are standing in the winner's circle for "their" win photo (remember there are two win photos from the Travers). Carter's phone rings. It's his mother calling. She hears all the background commotion, "Carter, where are you?"
"We're in Saratoga, mom!"
"Carter, why are you in Florida?"
When Carter sent that quote to me a few years ago, I knew two things: it was too long to go into the book for the owner's quote and that some day I was going to find a way to share that story because it's just too darn good.
There is a Saratoga tradition that the canoe in the pond in the center of the track is painted in the silk's colors of the winning horse. The canoe was painted half in the orange, green, and blue of Magic City and half blue and white of Darley. In the back of my head . . . I want to say that canoe ended up in Montana . . . but I have strange dreams some times.
In 2013, I painted the history of Saratoga racing on the 150th Celebration horse. For that, I painted in the paddock every day of the 2013 meet. What made more sense than to paint the 2012 dead heat Travers? The painting of Golden Ticket and Alpha was painted in the Saratoga paddock.
