By Peter Wharton
The Canadian pacer Tattoo Artist, whose frozen semen will be available this season from Pete and Chantal Turpin's Somerset Farms in Queensland, won the 2023 Canadian Pacing Derby, took a 1:47.1 mile record and earned $3.2 million in stakes.
He paced final quarters in 25.4 seconds or faster on 10 occasions – a record for a standardbred – and won an amazing 23 races in 1:50 or better.
Tattoo Artist won every season from two to six years, winning in elite company at The Meadowlands, Yonkers Raceway, Scioto Downs, Hoosier Park, Saratoga Raceway and Woodbine Mohawk Park.
As a two-year-old he won five of his eight starts including the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold and $225,000 Super Finals, while at three he totted up eight wins from 17 starts including five $100,000 OSS Gold Finals and the $85,000 Simcoe Stakes and finished runner-up to Tall Dark Stranger in the $1 million North America Cup.
Tattoo Artist was named Canadian 3YO Colt of the Year in 2020.
The following season he won a further eight races highlighted by a leg of the Graduate Series at The Meadowlands and ran third in the $250,000 Final. He took his lifetime mark of 1:47.1 at Mohawk Raceway at four.
As a five and six-year-old Tattoo Artist won 19 of his 49 starts and over $1.8 million including successes in the $615,000 Canadian Pacing Derby, $260,000 Jim Ewart Memorial, $250,000 Dayton Pacing Derby and $250,000 Joe Gerrity Memorial and was subsequently named the Canadian Aged Pacer of the Year in 2023.
Among the horses he met and defeated have been the Little Brown Jug winner Bythemissal ($2.1 million), the world champion Allywag Hanover ($2.2 million), the Meadowlands Pace winner Beach Glass ($1.1 million) and Charlie May ($2 million).
A son of American Ideal, He’s Watching (1:46.4), the sire of Tattoo Artist, was one of the fastest pacers ever imported to Australia. He set a world record of 1:50 as a two-year-old on a five-eighths track and an all aged world record of 1:46.4 on a mile track winning the $776,000 Meadowlands Pace.
He’s Watching sired the winners of $7.6 million in Australia and New Zealand, while in America, he left eight in the 1:50 list and the winners of $16.5 million including the recent North America Cup elimination winner Funtime Bayama (1:49.1).
Tattoo Artist’s dam, the Artsplace mare Stylish Artist 1:51 ($937,566), was a Breeders Crown champion at two and has left eight foals so far for seven winners including six in 1:55.
The next dam, Honey Bunny, produced seven foals for seven winners with four inside 1:55, while the third dam Sea Style left nine foals for seven winners including five in 1:55.
Tattoo Artist is a quality young horse – he was foaled in 2017 – with the bloodlines, racing performance and conformation to commend him to the most discriminating breeder.
His service fee is $4,900 plus GST.