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On Racing: A Perfect Union of Horses and Art

Racing commentary with Jay Hovdey

A painting by Jamie Wyeth of Union Rags ahead of the 2012 Belmont Stakes

A painting by Jamie Wyeth of Union Rags ahead of the 2012 Belmont Stakes

National Sporting Library & Museum

I have checked with the authorities, and I've found it is permissible to take a break to appreciate some true beauty in the midst of these grim, strife-torn days. Not as an escape, mind you, because escapes never get you far. But as a reminder that when this ugly time has passed, the beautiful corners of this fair country will endure, many of them just down the road.

One of those corners is the Brandywine Valley of southeastern Pennsylvania. The region is rife with history's footprints, not the least of them made in September 1777 when George Washington's troops were routed by the British and forced to retreat to Valley Forge, where the American Revolution nearly died, freezing and hungry.

Later, the du Pont family carved out a piece of the valley for the manufacture of gunpowder, but over time the 240 acres known as Point Lookout came to a more benevolent use as a retreat for the family of Phyllis Mills, the daughter of James P. Mills and Alice du Pont. When she married the artist Jamie Wyeth in 1968, Point Lookout became their haven, not only for the horses Phyllis raised but also for the variety of animals that populated Wyeth's paintings.

Phyllis Wyeth died in January 2019, having realized her lifelong ambition of breeding and racing a classic winner, namely Union Rags , who was raised at Point Lookout and went on to win the 2012 Belmont Stakes (G1). 

"After Phyllis' death, I thought I'd have a small broodmare band to keep going," Wyeth said from the studio of his island retreat off the coast of Maine. "But horse racing is a whole 'nother world, as I learned in that year with Union Rags. It's a world that Phyllis knew well, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw a need for something else that would keep this farm going."

That need was Thoroughbred racing's omnipresent challenge of racehorse care after their racing days are done. 

"I know the plight of a lot of racehorses once they're retired or injured, when their owners have no further use for them whatsoever," Wyeth said. "I thought that any way we could make even a small contribution to the effort would also be a living memorial to Phyllis and Union Rags."

The result is the conversion of the farm's 240 acres into Pastures at Point Lookout. Its first draft of 10 horses arrived last month from the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation who reached the end of their service with the Wallkill Correctional Facility program of interaction with prison inmates. Anita Motion, the wife of trainer Graham Motion, serves as executive director of the new entry into the patchwork world of aftercare.

"The Brandywine River runs right through our farm, so it's very verdant and lush," Wyeth said. "In terms of pastures, it's sort of ideal. I don't know how much grass the horses were on before, but they sure have it now. And with the Brandywine Museum nearby, maintained by my family for years, it's a combination of art and horses."

The Brandywine River Museum of Art is dedicated to the appreciation of such great American painters and illustrators as Maxfield Parrish, Peter Hurd, and Jessie Willcox Smith, as well as the Wyeth dynasty. Wyeth's grandfather, N.C. Wyeth, was widely known through his vibrant illustrations for classic American novels. Wyeth's father was Andrew Wyeth, an American realist of international renown. Wyeth himself has become one of the most collected American painters of all time, and, of course, horses are among his favorite natural subjects.

"I don't want to do work from photographs, so I spend an awful lot of time with the object, the person, or the animal," Wyeth said. "So when I've done horses, they're horses that mean something to me, not just pretty horses. I like to get inside and underneath the subject, and one can do that with the horse."

"Iggy visits Union Rags"<br>
Jamie Wyeth Painting
Photo: National Sporting Library & Museum
Iggy visits Union Rags

Wyeth's paintings have featured the farm's burly, black draft horse, the team of gray four-in-hands driven by Phyllis, and a chaotic barnyard scene populated by a family of Paint Horses along with a young bay colt in the corner of the canvas, kicking his heels at some pestering chickens.

"That's Union Rags as a foal," Wyeth said. "Right here at the farm. And, of course, when he became Union Rags the famous racehorse, everyone figured I'd be painting him all the time. That I'd become the Gilbert Stuart of Union Rags."

Sure, but even though Stuart gained fame as America's preeminent portraitist, with his presidents displayed in the National Gallery, he never got to paint a Belmont winner.

"I did a lot of sketches of Union Rags when he was with Michael Matz," Wyeth said, referring to the trainer. "Most Thoroughbreds can be crazy, especially when they're in training. But Union Rags was a particularly calm individual. I mean, he was raised in a place where there were trains going past all the time. As a racehorse, there was an equanimity about him."

The horses who will find a forever home at Pastures of Point Lookout will be a far cry from Union Rags, who has spent his stallion career at luxurious Lane's End in Kentucky. But as far as Wyeth is concerned, they deserve nothing less.

"Particularly now, in the midst of this pandemic when a lot of people are being laid off, I'm sure the horses have become the forgotten entity with no voice at all," Wyeth said. "I hope our place can help call attention to their care."