American Horse of the Year (2017)
American Champion Older Dirt Male Horse (2017)

Sire Candy Ride

Grandsire Ride The Rails

Dam Quiet Giant

Damsire Giant's Causeway

Sex Stallion

Foaled March 8, 2013

Country United States

Color Chestnut

Breeder Besilu Stables LLC

Owner Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Three Chimneys Farm

Trainer Steve Asmussen

Record 19: 12–3–2

Earnings US$15,988,500

Major races:

Risen Star Stakes (2016), Louisiana Derby (2016), Matt Winn Stakes (2016), Clark Handicap (2016), Razorback Handicap (2017), Stephen Foster Handicap (2017), Whitney Handicap (2017), Woodward Stakes (2017), Pegasus World Cup (2018), Breeders' Cup Classic (2017

March 8 - Gun Runner

This is Gun Runner winning the Whitney at Saratoga. The race gathered some notoriety not just for the way Gun Runner dominated the competition . . . but because he finished the race with a horseshoe stuck in his tail. I painted this at the Keeneland yearling sale, and everyone wanted to make sure I included the horse shoe in the painting. I did - with one change, I turned the horse up so the good luck doesn't fall out.

Of the people that stopped by while I was painting, one was his trainer, Steve Asmussen. When asked about the shoe in the tail, he gave me the full story of when they first saw it and what happened with it, then he finished the quote that we will probably use in the upcoming expansion of A Brush With Greatness . . . "I'm undefeated when they let me run with five shoes."