March 16 - Premium Tap
I just tossed a coin and I'm afraid you'll be getting the "shorter than it could have been" version of the story of painting Premium Tap's portrait and how the Super Bowl made me the Artist in Residence at Gulfstream Park.
Premium Tap is a horse that was raced by three buddies down in Florida. One of them, Dave Whelihan became one of my best friends over of the years. I painted Premium Tap for Dave winning the Clark at Churchill Downs, but Dave wanted me to paint him as a portrait. I honestly did everything I could to talk him out of doing a portrait of Premium Tap. I was blunt when I told him that his horse was just brown and wouldn't be as great as a portrait. Dave (as you will see over time, I am usually wrong in these matters) was insistent that he knew what he wanted, so I spoke my peace. I went to Gulfstream Park with my brother Brian, so that he could take the source photos of Premium Tap. It happened to be Super Bowl weekend and the game was being played in Miami a few miles away the next day. Security was tighter than I’d ever seen before. I couldn't get in, so I was sent up to the track offices. I wandered around with that obvious "I'm lost" look on my face. Fortunately, a man recognized that blank stare and came to my rescue. As it turned out, the man was Bill Murphy who was the president of Gulfstream Park. I told him why I was there, and a conversation ensued. I got the credentials to go back to the barns, but not until I shared a brochure, my portfolio, and web site with Bill. The next weekend I was back at Gulfstream and Bill Murphy took me up to his office and asked me to be the Artist in Residence at Gulfstream the following year. That's how I became the Artist in Residence at Gulfstream for 2008. Bill wanted me back on an ongoing basis, but we never signed a contract. One year and four months living at the track was plenty for me. And that is how the Super Bowl is the reason that I became the Artist in Residence at Gulfstream Park.
The best day of the meet was March 14, 2008, when it was my birthday and Wally the bugler followed up the National Anthem with Happy Birthday to me while he coaxed the crowd to sing along.
Oh, as for painting Premium Tap's portrait - it seems that Dave "Two Hands on the" Whelihan was right. It did turn out okay after all. Thanks for sticking to your guns, Dave.
Premium Tap was a hard hitting bay colt who ran with the very best older horses of the mid 2000s. He was foaled in 2002, a son of the durable stakes winner Pleasant Tap out of the mare Premium Red, who was by Thirty Six Red. He raced for the partnership of George Kline, Peter Alevizos, and David Whelihan, and he was trained by veteran horseman John Kimmel. He took a little while to find his best form, but when he did he was tough enough to mix it up with champions.
The biggest moments of his career came in the fall of 2006. Premium Tap put himself on the map in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, where he ran a huge race to finish third behind two of the era's best, Invasor and Bernardini. He was beaten by some good horses that day, but the performance announced him as a major player at the top level. He proved it was no fluke just a few weeks later when he came back to the same Churchill Downs strip for the Clark Handicap.
In that Clark Handicap, Premium Tap delivered the finest performance of his life. He drew off in the stretch and rolled home a powerful winner by more than seven lengths, picking up his first Grade 1 victory. The win earned his connections more than $329,000 and stamped him as one of the leading older runners in the country heading into the next year. John Kimmel had finally gotten everything out of the colt, and the partnership of small owners had a true Grade 1 horse on their hands.
Premium Tap raced through 2008 and faced top company in races like the Stephen Foster Handicap and other big handicap stakes. He never quite recaptured the magic of his Clark performance, but he ran honestly and gamely through his career. He finished his racing days with respectable career earnings and a Grade 1 trophy on the wall. Premium Tap is remembered as a hard knocking handicap horse from a great era of older male racing, and as a runner who brought home one of the biggest wins of trainer John Kimmel's career.
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