Fred Stone, “Rags to Riches Defeating Curlin 2007 Belmont Stakes” C-Print on 100lb paper, edition number 23/1200, inscription: “To Gregg with all my best wishes Fred Stone”. With no Triple Crown winner, the racing industry needed something to awaken a sleeping media. That something came in June, with the running of the 2007 Belmont Stakes.
A small crowd of only 46,870 people had come to Belmont Park to see what they thought would be an uneventful third leg of the Triple Crown. To their surprise, they would see one of the most exciting finishes in Belmont history. They would see an amazing horse, Rags to Riches, become the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont Stakes. On her way to achieving this feat, she had to overcome a number of obstacles: a near disastrous stumble out of the starting gate, running most of the mile and a half on the far outside, then finally battling Curlin, the big chestnut colt, eye to eye, right down to the wire. The story of this wonderful filly is best told in a quote by Steve Haskins in an article for The Blood-Horse magazine. There is a saying attributed to both Eleanor Roosevelt and Carl Sandberg. ”A woman is like a tea bag. It’s only when she’s in hot water that you realize how strong she is”.
– Fred Stone
Born in St. Louis to Sam and Dorothy Stone on April 13, 1930, Fred and the family moved to Los Angeles in 1934. He attended Fairfax High School where he pitched on the baseball team that included three future L.A. Dodgers. The highlight of his baseball career was pitching a one-hitter against the St. Louis Browns, who became the Baltimore Orioles. After attending Otis, Art Center, and Chouinard art institutes, Fred began his art career as a commercial artist, moving on in 1955 to painting backgrounds for movies and TV shows including "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide." Perhaps his most famous piece from this period was a park scene that was later used in the "Laugh-In" dirty old man sketches. In 1960, he left the art world for 16 years to work for Monogram Industries, where he became national sales and marketing manager for their marine division. When he decided to go back to painting, his daughter Laura who was working for Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham suggested that he paint race horses. He agreed and, with wife Norma, founded the company Equinart to sell originals and prints. His breakthrough work was "The Final Thunder," which captured the relationship between the great Man o' War and his groom Will Harbut. Fred and Norma were hoping to sell a few prints and cover the printing costs. Instead they were swamped with orders and quickly sold out their initial supply. Fred painted racing scenes of Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and many other great race horses past and present. His portraits of mares and foals were also popular, as were his portraits of jockeys Bill Shoemaker and Lafitte Pincay. Before Fred Stone, the typical horse painting was a standing portrait of a posing racehorse. Fred brought life and emotion to his paintings. Sometimes Fred or Norma would pick up the phone to hear a customer crying because he or she was so moved by one of his new paintings. Fred raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities including the After the Finish Line and Race Track Chaplaincy. His biggest fund-raiser was a painting not of a horse, but of a rescue dog at the Oklahoma City bombing site.
A small crowd of only 46,870 people had come to Belmont Park to see what they thought would be an uneventful third leg of the Triple Crown. To their surprise, they would see one of the most exciting finishes in Belmont history. They would see an amazing horse, Rags to Riches, become the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont Stakes. On her way to achieving this feat, she had to overcome a number of obstacles: a near disastrous stumble out of the starting gate, running most of the mile and a half on the far outside, then finally battling Curlin, the big chestnut colt, eye to eye, right down to the wire. The story of this wonderful filly is best told in a quote by Steve Haskins in an article for The Blood-Horse magazine. There is a saying attributed to both Eleanor Roosevelt and Carl Sandberg. ”A woman is like a tea bag. It’s only when she’s in hot water that you realize how strong she is”.
– Fred Stone
Born in St. Louis to Sam and Dorothy Stone on April 13, 1930, Fred and the family moved to Los Angeles in 1934. He attended Fairfax High School where he pitched on the baseball team that included three future L.A. Dodgers. The highlight of his baseball career was pitching a one-hitter against the St. Louis Browns, who became the Baltimore Orioles. After attending Otis, Art Center, and Chouinard art institutes, Fred began his art career as a commercial artist, moving on in 1955 to painting backgrounds for movies and TV shows including "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide." Perhaps his most famous piece from this period was a park scene that was later used in the "Laugh-In" dirty old man sketches. In 1960, he left the art world for 16 years to work for Monogram Industries, where he became national sales and marketing manager for their marine division. When he decided to go back to painting, his daughter Laura who was working for Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham suggested that he paint race horses. He agreed and, with wife Norma, founded the company Equinart to sell originals and prints. His breakthrough work was "The Final Thunder," which captured the relationship between the great Man o' War and his groom Will Harbut. Fred and Norma were hoping to sell a few prints and cover the printing costs. Instead they were swamped with orders and quickly sold out their initial supply. Fred painted racing scenes of Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and many other great race horses past and present. His portraits of mares and foals were also popular, as were his portraits of jockeys Bill Shoemaker and Lafitte Pincay. Before Fred Stone, the typical horse painting was a standing portrait of a posing racehorse. Fred brought life and emotion to his paintings. Sometimes Fred or Norma would pick up the phone to hear a customer crying because he or she was so moved by one of his new paintings. Fred raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities including the After the Finish Line and Race Track Chaplaincy. His biggest fund-raiser was a painting not of a horse, but of a rescue dog at the Oklahoma City bombing site.
