“I’m probably the only person living in Paris, Kentucky, that was born in Paris, Tennessee,” he joked.

He then grew up in California, where his father was stationed in the military. When his father retired, the family moved back to Tennessee. However, at first he didn’t want to go. But, that quickly changed when his dad told him something that instantly changed his mind.

“When my dad got out of the Navy, he said we’re moving back to Tennessee where both my parents grew up,” Clark said. “We bought a farm, 200 acres, and I didn’t want to go. And they said, ‘Well, you’ll be able to have a horse.’ And I got in the car, and I said, ‘Let’s go.’ They said, ‘Well, we’re not moving for another two months.’ I said, ‘Let’s go.’”

As a child, Clark loved horses and always wanted one of his own. And, he did finally get one.

“I’d been on the farm for about two years,’ he said. “My dad had started to build up a little herd of cows, and we still didn’t have a horse. One of the kids at school said they had to get rid of their horse. So I got off the school bus two miles down the road (from home) and walked the horse home on a gravel road. It turned out to be a Shetland pony whose only mission in life was to kill me. But, you know, I finally had my horse.”

At a very young age, Clark began to learn how to paint, and he naturally began painting his favorite subjects, horses.

It began when he was just “goofing around as far back as I can remember.” Then, “It just kind of went from there. My parents and grandmother and everybody kind of recognized I had talent. So I got my first set of acrylic paints when I was about 10, and just started doing landscapes. And of course, I’d always loved horses, so that just kind of was a natural jump.”

As he got older, he continued to paint horses, which, in time, led to a successful career for him, and he has painted many of the greatest race horses in modern history, such as Secretariat, Riva Ridge, American Pharoah, Justify, and many more.

Then, in 2006, he came to an Old Friends Homecoming event and painted his first Kentucky Derby winner, which was Barbaro.

According to Clark, the painting went through the Old Friends auction and sold for “something like $2,600.” And, the idea of doing a painting of the Kentucky Derby winner every year at the farm’s Homecoming just grew from there and has become a yearly tradition now.

To create the painting, like the one of Sovereignty this year, he has developed an interesting process.

“I just try to take it real easy on Derby Day and know that I’m just going to paint straight through the night,” he said.

He explains that he prepares his paints and pallet, which takes about 30 minutes to set up. He then gets a photo from photographer, Suzie Picou-Oldham, who has always graciously supplied him a photo of the Kentucky Derby winner to use for reference.

“Suzie is always there for me when it comes to Old Friends,” he said. “She’s just a ball of energy. I mean, Saturday she’s out there in the rain all day long (this year), and she’s out there lugging all her gear in the mud. I can go home and take a nap and get ready to paint. So, I have to thank her.

“I usually get the photo from her before eight o’clock, and then the drawing, getting it on the canvas, is where I begin. Once the contour line is on the canvas, I already have the paints and pallet set up and that where the painting begins.”

And, except for getting something to drink or using the restroom, he paints straight through the night while playing movies in the background. “I probably watch four or five old movies throughout the night,” he said, “And I can’t remember what any of them even were. It’s just great gray noise in the background.”

The next morning, when he’s ready, he packs up his paints, pallet, and the painting, and heads over to Old Friends. Once at the farm, he sets everything up again, and continues the painting.

“Once I get over to Old Friends, I ask myself, ‘Am I doing more of the background or am I going to try to tighten up the detail on the horse,’” he said. “And I thought it’d be more important to tighten up Sovereignty than just put in a finish line pole or something else.”

So, he continues to work on the painting until he’s completed it, which is around the time the auction gets underway. And, every year, his newly created artwork usually fetches a very generous final bid, as it did again this year when the finished painting sold in the farm’s live auction to Bill Jackson.

Clark has made a good living with his painting. He has also donated his time to a number of charities, but the two he’s worked with the most over the last 20 years is Old Friends and the Race Track Chaplaincy.

“From where I sit, I do what I can to help the retired race horses with Old Friends,” he said. “And then I try to turn around and help the people that are helping the people with Race Track Chaplaincy. Those are the people at the track that are really hands-on helping the back stretch workers.”

However, for Clark, what Michael Blowen has created at Old Friends is truly amazing.

“I love Michael to death.” he said. “I told Michael the other day, ‘You are the classic (example) of when they talk about societal change. New ideas go through three phases. The first phase is it’s totally ignored. The second phase is when it becomes widely known and widely refuted. Then the third phase is it’s totally accepted. It’s accepted in such a way as if it had always been accepted. And, that’s where you are with Old Friends now. You, Michael, are the poster boy for aftercare. When people think retired horses, Old Friends is always the first place they think of. And now all these other places benefit from Old Friends because people will donate too many aftercares across the country.’ … And, you know, it just doesn’t happen without Michael.”

No question, Clark is a very talented artist, and a very loyal supporter of Old Friends. Blowen, John Nicholson, the farm’s current President and CEO, and everyone else on the farm, is extremely grateful for the generosity of his time and painting each year to benefit the horses at Old Friends.

Note: To see some of Clark’s artwork, visit his website at RobertClark.us. He also has a private gallery in Paris, Ky., which you can visit by calling 321-266-1009 to make an appointment. Clark also has a book of his artwork titled “A Brush with Greatness,” with stories by the late writer, Ed Bowen, which you can purchase on his website.