Ask Michael Jones about the business he runs with his wife Lesley in the Renaissance Center and he’s likely to tell you, “We frame the usual and the unusual!”
Accordingly, this week, those who visit FastFrame of La Jolla will see displayed ” along with the framed working slide rule Michael used in college, and a red, blue and gold-toned stained glass study of a tribal woman created by Lesley’s artist son, Brian Garrett ” an original framed Moneigh, painted by Beau Genius, the headliner stallion standing at Ballena Vista Farm in Ramona.
This painting was created with a purpose: to help to support retired geldings and mares who are no longer earning their keep in thoroughbred racing, in a secure situation with ample care and a chance to behave like horses among other horses.
Moneighs are a year-round fund-raising project to benefit the California Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. They are paintings done by well-known horses, using their paint-dipped muzzles. The paintings have been sold to fans and art-lovers alike during the two years they have been available in California.
CERF is a 10-acre ranch located in Winchester in Riverside County. It was founded 20 years ago by Grace Belcuore, soon after she retired from teaching in the Los Angeles schools.
Belcuore was a fan and friend of the superstar gelding John Henry, and gingerly kissed him goodbye for a photographer (“Kiss him! He’ll take my face off!” was her immediate reaction) the early morning he was shipped off to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington to become a permanent exhibit there.
Belcuore saw clearly that other horses that had served their time on the track and were no longer useful for breeding purposes needed a secure home where they could be turned out with other horses to kick up their heels and play. She has devoted her life ever since to filling that need.
At present there are 70 horses on the farm; each one costs Belcuore approximately $500 a month to care for and feed.
A team of volunteers from CERF, headed by Julie Sarno, the fund-raising chair, has been visiting the tracks and thoroughbred farms in the San Diego County area to help the horses make these paintings for last two years. Lesley Jones has been matting them to prepare them for sale all of that time.
“I enjoy being a part of this project,” Lesley said. “I’m always looking out for customers who are interested in horses so I can tell them about the Moneighs. I did sell one to a client who was a long-term art collector and who liked the way it looked after I had framed it.”
That painting was by Secret Stranger, a son of two celebrated “Horse of the Year” winners, Lady’s Secret and Skip Away, but apparently to the art collector it was a well composed impressionist painting that would go nicely in her living room.
The idea and the process was brought to California by Mary Simons of Lexington, a volunteer for ReRun, a horse rescue organization based in Kentucky that accepts thoroughbreds that can be trained for other careers, such as hunter-jumper competitions, dressage or to be a pleasure horse-companion for a rider.
The title Moneigh is now a registered trademark for ReRun. CERF sends a portion of the proceeds of the sales to ReRun. Both are 501(c) (3) organizations.
Sarno explained the appeal to fans of the paintings that are often done in the colors of that horse’s racing silks.
“People who loved a horse when he raced can feel that emotion again when they see the Moneigh,” she said.
She relates her experience of seeing a picture painted by Soul of the Matter, a horse owned and raced by Burt Bacharach. Sarno was a fan of the horse as he contended for the classics in his 3-year-old year.
“I thought that once he was finished racing, I would never see or hear from him again,” she said. “And then here was his Moneigh, and that brought back all of the emotion.”
The Beau Genius Moneigh is done in tan and green, the colors of Ballena Vista farm. An impression was also taken of one hoof in black (with the open end up so the luck won’t run out).
Another finishing touch is a small curl of horse’s hair from the mane or tail, which makes it even more valuable to a lover of that horse. There is also a photograph with it of the horse and his helper with the just-finished painting, proving the work of art was done by that horse.
Beau Genius raced as a 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year-old and earned $1,550,600 during his career. He won 13 stakes races, including the 1990 Arlington International Challenge Cup in Chicago and the 1990 Grade 1 Philip H. Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. His progeny have won more than $29 million at the track.
Last summer, the Moneigh team went to the barns at Del Mar and got Moneighs from Giacomo, the 2006 Kentucky Derby Winner; and Imperialism, winner of the 2005 Pat O’Brien Breeder’s Cup Handicap, third in the Kentucky Derby in 2004 and winner of the 2005 Del Mar Oaks Singhalese, to paint for them. All the paintings done by these horses have been sold.
The only showing of Moneighs at Del Mar this year will be on Sunday, Aug. 20, Pacific Classic Day. There will be a display in the Clubhouse Lobby next to the entrance to the Turf Club during that day’s race card. Expect to see paintings by Brother Derek, 2006 Santa Anita winner and fourth place in the 2006 Kentucky Derby, and Runaway Dancer, winner of the Escondido Handicap on Aug. 2.
These works of art, among others, some flown in from Kentucky, will be available for purchase.
FastFrame of La Jolla is located at 8915 Towne Centre Drive. For information, call (858) 546-0506.
For more information and to see more Moneighs on-line, go to www.cerfhorses.org and www.rerun.org.