From dust jacket notes: "Classic races--coveted, anticipated, yet ruthlessly challenged--are supreme test for three-year-old horses in the United States, England, Ireland and France. Richard Stone Reeves and Patrick Robinson take you into the privileged center of the thoroughbred racing, into the winner's circle with the victorious, and into the very wounded hearts of the defeated. Classic Lines represents the lifework of reeve, the undisputed master of all living artists of the thoroughbred horse. His coveted works, commissioned on both sides of the Atlantic, hang in private collections, all previously seen only by the inner circle of the horse racing kingdom. Over 100 paintings, drawings, and sketches, all remarkable for Reeves' attention to detail, are included in this book. There are 60 paintings of Classic winners, including especially commissioned originals of the five great foundation stallions from whom almost every champion racehorse in the world today is descended: Man o' War, Hyperion, Nearco, Native Dancer, and Ribot. Their bloodlines are the basis of this book. Reeves has created original drawings and sketches of the historic tracks where the Classic winners are determined. He has also sketched jockeys, grooms, trainers, exercise boys, and certain vignettes of pageantry and history that give racing such life and appeal. Patrick Robinson narrates the powerful story of the most graceful, swiftest animals in man's world, revealing the strengths and peculiarities, the loves and hates--the almost human traits that define these champion racehorses. Robinson, in researching Classic Lines, interviewed the privileged few--many of them old friends--who breed buy, sell, train, and ride the champions. His story has captured the excitement, the tension, the rivalry, and the discreet opulence of the Sport of Kings...."
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