April 6 - Ghostzapper

Ghostzapper - that home bred of Frank Stronach that went on to win the Breeders' Cup Classic at one of Stroncach's tracks, Lone Star Park. Sure, most of you knew that but here's something I learned when Frank gave us a quote for the book, A Brush With Greatness, to go along with text and painting of Ghostzapper. Frank said that when it was time to come up with a name for Ghostzapper, he had the Breeders' Cup at Lone Star on his calendar and was targeting this yearling to race at his track in the Breeders' Cup Classic - THREE YEARS LATER!!! And if you know the odds of things going right every step or the way or nothing going wrong, what are the chances? Unyielding, Frank also knew that the Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park would take place on Halloween. Yep - Frank named Ghostzapper because "he wanted to see his ghost winning at his track on Halloween." WOW!!! . . . (Even I can't make that story up!)

The first time I painted Ghostzapper, it was the Classic with Javier Castellano in the irons (trained by Bobby Frankel.) When Frank saw the painting, he smiled and told me that he wanted me to paint him again, this time with the legs and he wanted me to "paint him the way Richard Stone Reeves does it." Having been to Adena Springs in both Kentucky and Florida, you see the other conformation paintings of Frank's stallions by Reeves. I know Adena Springs in Kentucky is for sale, but the conformation painting of Ghostzapper still greets you when you enter the massive office.