Royal Blood

Featuring original paintings by Richard Stone Reeves, Royal Blood celebrates Reeves' five decades among the finest sporting painters of the modern era with paintings of the world's greatest Thoroughbreds. Each of the 50 chapters opens with Mr. Reeves' personal recollections, which serve as a prelude to thorough historical profiles by award-winning turf writer Jim Bolus. The presentations include full pedigrees of each subject, plus sketches and photographs used by Mr. Reeves to construct his portraits.

Those who love thoroughbreds and art will also love this magnificent book. The individual thoroughbreds, realistically and accurately depicted against lush, impressionistic backgrounds, convey a sense of power and beauty inextricably entwined. Another perfect marriage is that of the artist Reeves with author Bolus, whose knowledgeable accounts of the careers of the fifty champions or near-champions painted by Reeves over a span of five decades, from Man O'ÿ20War to Tabasco Cat, provide an ideal complement to the art. Each portrait is also accompanied by the artist's account of the circumstances under which he worked, and by a three-generation pedigree of the horse. A four-generation pedigree would have been better, but that's quibbling when the book is otherwise so successful. Dennis Dodge