BELL COUNTY, Ky. — With the Kentucky Derby around the corner, the race is on to get your hands on the 2022 Woodford Reserve Derby bottle featuring the artwork of an eastern Kentucky native.
Bell County native Jaime Corum is an artist with a speciality in horses.
"The feeling that I have for the creature is the beginning. I certainly have a strong feeling and love for the animal," Corum told Spectrum News 1.
The 48-year-old artist is using her lifetime of experience with horses and a passion for painting in her career as a renowned equine artist.
"The marriage of the horse and the artwork are very critical to me being able to do this," she said.
The accomplished artist is well-known for her breathtaking equine portraits within the horse racing community.
But Corum never thought she’d see her artwork on a bottle of booze.
"It’s been a dream to be on a bourbon label and especially something associated with Derby, which is of course being a horse lover one of my favorite times of the year," Corum said.
On March 1, Woodford Reserve honored the “greatest two minutes in sports" with the release of the 2022 commemorative Derby bottle featuring the artwork of Corum.
"Horses and bourbon culture they’ve always kind of been intertwined and I feel like the Woodford partnership with Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby is you know is just a match made in heaven," Corum said.
The University of Kentucky graduate’s striking work of this year’s Run for the Roses captures a perspective of the iconic race.
"Everything had to be perfect so I was aware of that and I just gave it every ounce of creative experience that I had," she said.
Corum’s image on the bottle is titled “Dreams in Bloom,” featuring three thoroughbreds racing neck-and-neck, surrounded by spring flowers and the iconic red roses of the Kentucky Derby.
"I would put a flower in one spot and then I would move it because it wasn’t quite right or I would take different angles of flowers. Actually the horses came pretty quickly because that’s my comfort zone," Corum said.
Like nurturing Kentucky Derby racehorses, attention to detail in the form of art takes time and patience.
"I’ve put in a lot of time at the easel, a lot of time working on my craft and to finally get some pretty big national recognition with this project—it means a lot," Corum said.
Woodford Reserve is the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby.