Lot 830: Sporting Memorabilia: Jay Boyd Kirkman (born 1958)

Sporting Memorabilia: Jay Boyd Kirkman (born 1958) ARAZI, PAT VALENZUELA RIDING, WINNING THE BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE coloured pastels, framed & glazed, the backboard with a Cross Gate Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky label and artist's inventory no: KIR-J79C01, 148 by 83cm., 58 by 33in. Arazi's victory in the 1991 Juvenile is generally considered to be the most spectacular performance in Breeders' Cup history. Allen E. Paulson's chestnut colt was bought at the Keeneland Sales for $350,000 and sent to France where he was trained by Francois Boutin. Having won six of his seven two-year-old races in France on turf, Arazi was sent to Churchill Downs for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, his first race on dirt. In an extraordinary performance Arazi swept by his field in a canter to win by a record margin, and one if jockey Pat Valenzuela had not kept him on a tight reign might have been as much as 10 lengths. The performance gained Arazi a Timeform Rating of 135, the highest score ever awarded to a two-year-old and superior to many top-class older horses.