After waiting all day to see if she'd win her big race, and being so pleased for her when she held on against a real challenger, I immediately rummaged through my box of SM bodies for one of the spare TBs I knew was in there, and got out my paints to recreate Enable in miniature.
Although Enable's earnt a lot fans for her fame on the track, I have an extra reason to have always liked her - she's a similar colour variation to my own horse, lacking the usual fully-black legs with her bay colouring. She's also got really nice markings to paint, from the quirkily shaped starry-stripe and snip on her face, to the white on three of her feet - there's a white heel you can't see in the pictures, too.
As I said, sometimes on the blog I'll feature older models, and I thought it'd be nice to show you my other racehorse portraits, two National Hunt favourites of mine from recent years.
Firstly, Big Buck's, a staying hurdler who won an incredible 18 races in a row, including some of the very best - not least his four consecutive World Hurdles at the Cheltenham festival.
Having watched him for most of his career, I'd got quite attached to the tough dark horse with the big ears and the friendly face, and I painted him soon after his retirement was announced - it's been nice to see occasional photos of him enjoying his new life ever since.
He was also a nice colour to paint, mostly black with a hint of brown, and a clip line just showing on his legs. Sometimes a lack of white can make a model look fairly plain or even unfinished, but when they're portraits it doesn't seem to matter cos if you get the colour just right, they'll look just like who they're meant to be.
Second portrait, and it's Sire De Grugy, a big chestnut with a distinctive white face and a character you couldn't help but cheer on through his races - he may not have had the unblemished winning streak of Big Buck's or Enable but he took some magnificent wins in his career and will be fondly remembered by many a racing fan, long after his retirement.
I have a few more thoroughbred bodies for racehorse portraits - one is set aside for Annie Power, another's having plaits sculpted to become Sprinter Sacre, but I have a couple more and haven't decided who else ought to be made in miniature - Altior, perhaps, and little Tiger Roll? Or go back through some of the greats from the 20th century, and paint an Arkle, a Desert Orchid, and a Red Rum?
I'm more inclined to do the ones whose careers I've followed live, modern stars who've had me excited and worried through their races, and celebrating their wins. If you watch the racing, which horses have you connected with in recent years?
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