TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1045316
S itting on a sofa in his office at Gainesway, Antony Beck points to twin, framed photographs hanging above his head, one set above the other. "Have a look at these two horses here." For a moment, you're not sure that they are actually two different animals. A creamy grey stallion in the same posture, against the same background of indeterminate pas- ture. Beck acknowledges that the more recent shot was taken to make the point, and duly developed in black and white, but the in- herent resemblance is certainly striking. "Mahmoud and Tapit," Beck explains. "It's really interesting to see. Until quite recently Mahmoud was the fastest Epsom Derby winner. The grey in Tapit comes from him, five or six generations back— through the mares, through the female family. And Mahmoud stood here on this farm." Tapit, nowadays, is among the most expensive sires in Amer- ica ($300,000 in 2018; $225,000 for 2019). His rise ensures that Gainesway remains an iconic Bluegrass brand, worthy of a heritage that has trebled in weight under the present ownership through the addition of historic tracts of neighbouring Whitney land. And, while the family will celebrate its 30th anniversary here in February, con- versation with Beck very soon discloses a keen sense that his first duty is the humble one of stewardship. His mother, clearly of similar mind, planted 62 different species of oak around the estate, not to mention some of the finest formal gar- dens in the land. And Beck, in turn, is proving a profoundly civilising influence. Among the old farm buildings, for instance, was a derelict slaughterhouse. Beck has turned it into a wine vault. Blood to claret: a succinct sample of the cosmopolitan cut of a man to confound all condescension from those, on either coast, who do not so much look into the heart of America as down at it. In Beck, they must acknowledge a world citizen. His roots in South Africa, where his father had built up a coal fortune, were transplant- ed to Kentucky via a London education; specifically, a Westminster