Sobey speaks on his time with Divine Art

Every once in a while, in harness racing, an extra special type of horse emerges from the crowd.

A horse that stands out from the rest and always seems to find a way to win even if the odds are sometimes stacked against them. Divine Art (Outrageous Art) has been that as of late as she continues her more than impressive win streak.

She is currently riding a 16-race win streak that has taken place over seven months of racing. Until just recently, she was trained and driven by Nathan Sobey. Sobey has been in the bike with her since her debut in 2021 and he’s the one that got to experience this incredible run with her the most.

Sobey enjoyed every moment with her and spoke about the good times they had. “When I was behind the gate with her, I felt like there was less pressure with her because I could always count on her. It didn’t matter where we drew or how the race would set up, I had confidence in her. It doesn’t matter the kind of drive you give her because she’s going to find a way a win.

“It’s been a dream season with a horse like that,” Sobey said.  “By the end of her two-year-old year, she started showing she was destined to be a really good horse. The way she’s been able to follow it up has been spectacular. She made it easy to be a trainer and a driver. If she’s healthy and ready to go, it doesn’t matter where she is on the track. She has such a drive to win races that I haven’t really seen before. She made coming to the barn enjoyable.”

Divine Art’s incredible streak started on July 2nd of 2022 at Century Downs when she took home the first-place ribbon in the ABSS Diamond eliminations. She followed that victory up by winning the finals a few weeks later. She quite literally took the lead and never once looked back.

Accumulating all the wins is one thing but what makes her performance even more remarkable is she was winning some of the biggest races Alberta harness racing has to offer. After the ABSS Diamond finals, her next big race was the Gord and Illa Rumple Memorial stakes. Divine Art beat out one of her barn mates, Daisy Corvette (Mystician) by only one-fifth of a second.

About a month later, she beat out Daisy Corvette in the ABSS Marquis Final but the time by four-fifths of a second. By this time Divine Art was already warmed up and she earned the right to be the heavy betting favourite heading into ABSS Super Finals for three-year-old fillies. She won that decisively by 11 lengths over the next closest horse. Although that concluded her time at Century Downs, it did not conclude her dominating performance.

She only had two starts at Century Mile with the first being a filly & mare preferred. She held her own against mares that were twice her age and had miles of extra experience on her, but they found out it was nearly impossible to catch her.

“She was just that much better than the rest of them this year,” Sobey added. “I don’t want to take anything away from the other horses especially because I also had Daisy Corvette and Ideal Huntress (Huntsville). We also were racing against the likes of Kelly Hoerdt and Dave Kelly. She’s been having to race against Saphire Blue (Vertical Horizon) who has also turned into a really nice filly. I got lucky that she was just a step above the rest of the competition.”

Near the end of her rookie season, Divine Art started to show what she was really made off. She ended off 2021 by winning three races in a row and the final one being the two-year-old filly ABSS Super Final. The transition from two to three was a pivotal part of her development.

“She developed near the end of her two-year-old year,” Sobey said. “She showed that could switch gears quickly and that she had the abilities. We got lucky that she got that much more mature as a three-year-old and turned into the force she has.”

She’s still finding ways to win at a new track, in a new country with a new trainer and driver which illustrates how much talent the four-year-old mare has. The unfortunate business side of harness racing played a factor in Divine Art moving on to now being with Gerald Longo in California. It’s always tough to let any horse go especially one who has been as special as this but Sobey knew it was only time before she would have to move on.

“It’s unfortunately a business and that’s how I have to run it,” Sobey replied. “But when an extra special horse like this comes around, it can be extra hard to say goodbye. I tried hard to keep the funds to buy into her so I could have some say but when that amount of money gets offered in American dollars, it can’t turn that kind of money down. It does suck to see her go but now it’s time to try to find the next champion.”

Although this run of Divine Art has been very impressive, as he says, Sobey believes we have not witnessed her true potential yet.  “I’m very happy that she’s winning races for Gerry (Longo), but I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet. I don’t think we will see that until she is racing over the summer against tougher competition. Right now, watching her race, she’s not working. What she’s doing is effortless for her. I hope we can see her race someday out east so we can see how good she can be.”

Divine Art will look to make it 17 wins in a row at Cal Expo Friday evening. She will be wearing the number 5 saddle clothe in the third race.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink