No clouds over race favourite Jan Van Goyen's landscape

Jan van Goyen is regarded as a great artist whose landscape paintings inspired many other masters of the golden age of Dutch art.

- Mike Moon

VICTORY. Jan Van Goyen wins the Cape Guineas.

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But viewers of his works these days - with the modern-day bent for bling and razzle-dazzle - would probably see Jan's 17th century daubings as rather gloomy.

His depictions of villages and ships at sea invariably have banks of heavy cloud glowering overhead.

The racehorse named after the artist is favourite for Saturday's L'Ormarins King's Plate and the meeting organisers have been hoping young Jan doesn't bring his namesake's miserable rain clouds with him.