An afternoon horse ride beside a flowing Australian stream and morning dew brings piece of mind. Or perhaps an invigorating beach ride with the rhythmic splash of the waves is a place mom likes to go in her mind. There’s no doubt that if mom doesn’t have the place to keep the real equine then the best Christmas gift for mom can be a majestic steed painted on canvas.

The best Christmas gift for the mom who doesn’t just daydream and actually has a horse can be a gift of art as well. Even among moms with frantic schedules, sentimental ties to their horse remain important. Therefore, a painting of the animal of her affections can be one of the best gifts for Christmas that mom will get.

Or perhaps the best Christmas gift for mom would be a painting of a frolicking horse parade with equine lovers of all kinds, from cowboys to city folk, dressed up in their fanciest clothes atop their trusty horse. A heartwarming piece of art like this can be done in a pet portrait from a favorite photo that mom has.

Maybe mom had a favorite story as a young girl like ‘The Black Stallion’. Perhaps she dreamed of one day owning such a magnificent animal. For one who had childhood dreams of such a fine horse, the best Christmas gift of this mom may be a piece of artwork as beautiful as the stallion himself.

Bart Cummings Wins another Melbourne Cup in 2008! Congratualtions!

Cummings was born in in 1927, son of successful trainer Jim Cummings. He started his career working for his father as a strapper, despite being allergic to hay.

[edit] Training career

Cummings received his trainer license in 1953, and set up stables at Glenelg in South Australia. His first significant win came in 1958, when he won the South Australian Derby, the same year he bought his first yearling.

Cummings won his first Trainer’s Premiership in the 1965-1966 season. Not only did he achieve his first Melbourne Cup victory, but he also won the Adelaide, Caulfield, Sandown, Sydney, Brisbane and Queen’s cups.

In 1968, Cummings opened stables at Flemington in Melbourne, home of the Flemington Racecourse, now called ‘Saintly Lodge’. Later that year, he won the Trainer’s Premiership in both Victoria and South Australia, a feat which he would replicate in the 1969 and 1970 seasons.

In 1969, the favourite for the Melbourne Cup was Cummings’ horse Big Philou, which had already won the Caulfield Cup. However, the horse was drugged with a large dose of laxative the night before the race and was unable to compete.

In 1975, Cummings moved his operations to a new facility near Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, called ‘Leilani Lodge’.

In the late 1980s, Cummings spent millions of dollars purchasing racehorses, much of the money spent on behalf of a tax minimization syndicate. Unfortunately, like many other trainers Cummings was hit hard by the recession of the early 1990s. With help from Reg Inglis’ organization, however, he was able to avoid certain bankruptcy and continue training.

On 11 December 1991, Bart Cummings was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. He was also an inaugural inductee into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. He was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1982 for his services to the racing industry. In 2007, Australia Post placed his image on a postage stamp as part of its Australian Legends series.

So far, Cummings has achieved 250 Group 1 victories, and 690 Stakes victories. He has won the Golden Slipper Stakes four times, and the Newmarket Handicap eight times.

[edit] Honours

In May 2008 Racing NSW announced a new horse racing award to be known as The Bart Cummings Medal which will be awarded for ‘consistent, outstanding performances amongst jockeys and trainers at New South Wales metropolitan race meetings through the racing season.’[1]

[edit] Melbourne Cup winners

Cummings has won twelve Melbourne Cups with eleven winners:

* Light Fingers (1965)
* Galilee (1966)
* Red Handed (1967)
* Think Big (1974 & 1975)
* Gold and Black (1977)
* Hyperno (1979)
* Kingston Rule (1990)
* Let’s Elope (1991)
* Saintly (1996)
* Rogan Josh (1999)
* Viewed (2008)

Cummings’ Melbourne Cup trophies are on display at the Australian Racing Museum in Federation Square, in Melbourne.

In 1965, 1966, 1974, 1975, and 1991, Cummings trained both the first and second place winners in the Melbourne Cup.

Melissa, a bloodstock agent at Randwick, in Sydney, wanted a photo turned into a painting as a christmas gift for her partner who is also a huge racing fan.

She sent us this photo of a famous race finish at Rosehill Racecourse from a few years ago…

We wanted to paint this to be quite realistic and give it some more colour…the photo is loooking a bit old and faded!

Our equine artist started the portrait; he said the hardest part about painting the horse is to get the ears and the face in the correct proportion. Why the long face? Ok…so around 10 days later we showed the commissioned artwork to Melissa. She was happy but wanted a few small changes. The background and jockey colours needed more detail. Our artist was happy to modify the painting until Melissa was 100% happy.

A few days later we sent her the image of the finished artwork and she agreed it was spot on!

Here it is below…if you are interested in having a horse portrait painted by one of our professional artists then please contact us here.