I am delighted and honoured to have been entrusted by Katie O'Sullivan to write this foreword. It is a privilege and a testament to our enduring connection.

Our story began back in 1977 at the art foundation course at Loughton College of Further Education in Essex. Katie and I were initially a little perplexed and disappointed at landing there. We had expected to take our places at a prestigious art school in London, but Essex County Council stopped supporting students with grants beyond the county. However, we soon realised how mistaken we were in our misgivings.

Loughton proved to be an incredibly exciting, and well-run course. It was also the most tremendous fun. I have particularly fond memories of an intense 'Perception Weekend' in a remote and draughty country house. Groups were organised to make outdoor sculptures that played with optical illusion, along with many other mind-stretching activities, all culminating in a lecture from the course leader Fred Schick, that has stayed with me ever since. We had fantastic teaching from many inspiring people, including a young Bill Woodrow pushing boundaries right there in the studios with us. Katie and I became friends and connected over our shared love for horses and a passion for horse racing (and I remember her going to Paris for the Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe which I found very glamorous at the time). We had no idea back then how central that might become to both our lives and practices.

Her innate discipline and devotion to form and innovation was developed further when we both moved on to Chelsea School of Art, and her work quickly drew influential and esteemed fans. She has always been mindful of what Howard Hodgkin once said to her: 'Only amateurs enjoy painting', to which I heartily concur. The difficulties of making art are a daily challenge because they matter so. And she speaks eloquently about how one must be brave and commit to an uncertain journey - 'to stay on the bus!' as she says. 'I feel that I have gone down a very traditional and rewarding path and I am definitely meant to be here.' Katie told me recently, but 'I think I approach my work with a contemporary mindset, challenging, always examining.'

'Connections' has of course a particular meaning in racing circles but for both of us this is not meant in the sense of privilege, but rather as a true alignment of human ambition, shared passion, and a sustaining fascination with the horse. A stunning painted montage revolves around Dubai Millennium: Ghaiyyath, Too Darn Hot, Night Of Thunder, Naval Crown, Modern Games, and Dubawi. Seen framed as if they were their own trophies, they come alive when painted by Katie, their presence exceeding their bounds, much as their progeny will go on to define the modern thoroughbred.

Her paintings go far deeper than the physical form, capturing the intricate webs of bloodlines, dynasties, and human stories that constitute the racing world. But more than this in her latest works she has captured these animals in motion, at the heart of a race, somehow conveying the light momentarily catching the flexing muscles in a way that captures their power and the thunderous rush that thrills racegoers like me. Katie doesn't just observe this world - she lives and breathes it. 'I have forgotten how much work it is to put a show on of new work. I've become a hermit, which is particularly difficult in a busy horse racing houschold.'

Being an artist requires hours of solitude, concentration and self-belief. I've found most artists are temperamentally content in their own company, but there's no denying it can feel a lonely business at times. 'All the paintings in this show are part of my journey, I am fortunate to have got here, and I really feel particularly in art that only you (oneself) can make that happen. It's exciting but solitary.'

In the quieter corners of her studio are gorgeous paintings of delicate Chinese Kraak porcelain, paired with vibrant parakeets, goldfinches and swallows, reminiscent of Golden Age Dutch still-lives. These subjects offer a fantastic counterweight to the raw power of the track.

Through the fragile glazes of the finely decorated ceramic and the bright plumage of birds, Katie finds a different kind of quiet energy, painting the rich textures in a passion that harks back to her work with a porcelain restorer shortly after leaving college.

These works are often framed in gold leaf overlays which she deploys gloriously in her recent depiction of a chalk stream: it is the sun and all it reflects, returning us to Lambourn and its river that feeds eventually into the Thames. Katie channels a bit of the David Hockney philosophy here, who said: 'I paint what I like.' Every painting in this room is a vital piece of her path. They show what it means to be brave-to "stay on the bus" throush all of life's uncertainties and keep moving forward. 'I haven't exhibited in seven years, but 2026, the Year of the Fire Horse drew me in, I love Astrology!' This exhibition marks an absolutely triumphant return and whether it's by astrology or fate, we are the fortunate beneficiaries.