Above and Beyond, a painting by noted Ocala, Fla. artist Sharon Crute, will be auctioned during the "Throwing Full Crosses" banquet to benefit Race Track Chaplaincy of America's Ocala Farm Ministry. The banquet will be held 6:30 p.m., March 19 at the Gallery Square, next to the Arthur Appleton Museum on Silver Springs Blvd. in Ocala.Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day along with Patti Cooksey, who recently retired as the nation's second leading female rider, will be featured speakers. Chris Lincoln of WinnerComm will be the host and Ryan Mahan will be the auctioneer. Above and Beyond is a one-of-a-kind life-sized equine painting that depicts scenes of everyday life on the backstretch. Crute, who has an Ocala art gallery, lived these scenes when she worked in jobs ranging from a hotwalker to a racing official. She was one of the nation's first females to exercise horses at racetracks."I literally embraced this painting," Crute said. "I don't think I could have painted this with as much passion if I had not worked on the backside. Throughout the roller coaster ride of horse racing, it is the people on the backstretch who are there constantly day in and day out. Racing wouldn't happen without them and it was an honor to depict their work."Among her work is the equine painting, "Champ," which stands in front of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company offices and was the prototype for the highly successful "Horse Fever" auction of equine artwork. From the written salute to White Horse Heroes on the water hose to the aging hand lifting a horse's leg, Above and Beyond offers details as realistic and unusual as the life of a "racetracker." The Ocala Farm Ministry is led by Chaplain Bob Miller and is raising funds to build the Ocala Farm Ministry Family Resource Center, a building that will be used to provide a variety of social services to the Marion County farm workers.
For more information contact RTCA development director Rev. Ed Donnally at (310) 419-1640 or edonnally@racetrackchaplaincy.org