From Royal Ascot to Flemington, Jason Roberts has a rich portfolio. Photo: Jason South

Painter Jason Roberts has turned his eye towards equine immortality.

LITTLE more than a year ago, Jason Roberts had been to Flemington maybe once in his life, and had next to no interest in horse racing. Now, he can't wait to get to the track, and finds a winner everywhere he looks.

''Something just switched the thoroughbreds, they're just sensational animals - muscular but lean, beautiful, elegant animals with incredibly expressive faces,'' he says. Where others leave the course with crumpled suits and empty wallets, Roberts bounces away with ''a suite of paintings'' galloping around in his head. Racing, it seems, offers more surety of return for a painter than a punter.

'The contrast between corporatised Australian racing and the purity of scenes at faraway courses is stark.'

Roberts' exhibition, The Sport of Kings, brings the form guide to life on Collins Street Gallery's walls. Vignettes of Americain and So You Think - ''the two most impressive horses I've seen'' - sit opposite the English superstar Frankel, Apache Cat's white face and Manighar's grey visage. It also documents moments in time.

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His work for the exhibition coincided with Black Caviar's migration from sports pages to front pages; with Royal Ascot on the horizon, Roberts thought, ''Someone's going to want to see this painted.'' The gallery sent him to England, and thanks to some fortuitous access, he found himself on the fence just beyond the winning post.

By a Nose! records the moment Luke Nolen thought he had the race won, eased forward up in the irons, and very nearly lost a place in history.

''I hadn't felt tense beforehand, but there was a huge sense of relief after the race,'' Roberts says. The prospect that Black Caviar's first defeat would have made the moment even bigger makes him chuckle. ''Yes, but I don't know that anyone would have wanted to buy that.''

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The art of racing