Grants Pass Downs' 'Speedy' Latest Artwork by O'Tool

Racing at Grants Pass Downs may have concluded in November, but one 1,200-pound horse is front and center at the Oregon racetrack's yet-to-open gaming complex known as The Flying Lark.

"Speedy," a bronze 10' x 6' x 5' sculpture designed by Arizona artist Trevor O'Tool, greets visitors as part of a planned $2.5 million outdoor equestrian art exhibit at The Flying Lark, located next to Grants Pass Downs. Rather than on all fours, captured in motion, Speedy is lightheartedly presented sitting on a bench, eyeglasses on, poring over the inside pages of Daily Racing Form.

O'Tool said he called upon his experience sculping other animals as inspiration, though a goal of the project was to draw patrons to sit next to Speedy. To readers of racing publications, Speedy may prove somewhat reminiscent of the artwork of Pierre "Peb" Bellocq, whose humorous drawings were featured for decades in Daily Racing Form.

The making of Speedy entailed a lengthy process. Using a technique known as lost-wax casting, O'Tool made a 3-D model on his computer, created a foam carving, sculpted it and added detail, and then constructed molds into which wax was poured to make copies. Then, a shell was built from the wax, and ultimately bronze was poured into the shell to create the sculpture.

"It's kind of like photography—where you take your photo, and it creates a negative, and you have to turn that negative into a (print). It's a multi-step process to get to the end result," O'Tool said.

The project, which took three months to complete, was wrapped up when O'Tool, 34, and his girlfriend hopped in a truck at their base in Tucson, Ariz., and took Speedy in a trailer for a 19-hour, 1,200-mile journey to Oregon. 

"It was a long haul," said the 2013 graduate of the University of Arizona.

The opening of The Flying Lark, which would feature historical horse racing gaming, has been delayed, limiting Speedy's attention this winter. Officials hope to open The Flying Lark in the spring, provided HHR can receive the necessary approval. Tribal leaders in Oregon have opposed it, and HHR in Oregon has faced legal, regulatory, and legislative challenges.

Creating Speedy was a new experience for O'Tool, who had not sculpted horses. Previously, he had made an elephant sitting with his head on his hand, as if in thought, aptly named "Wise Elephant." He also created animal sculptures for "Deer in the Headlights" and "Lazy Days," in which a bear sits on his backside.

His artwork is displayed at numerous sites over the western half of the country, with "Wise Elephant" at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas, and "Lazy Days" at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Los Angeles, Calif.

With a name like O'Tool, it was almost fate that the artist would find such a calling for his career.

"I know, it's weird. As a child, I didn't really like tools, like power tools, you know," he said. "Now, I gotta have them all."