A ten ton sculpture made at Scotland’s only fine-art foundry will leave Black Isle Bronze today [Monday 16 December] bound for a Tokyo racecourse.

The sculpture ‘Mare and Foal’ is the first piece to leave Scotland’s unique, purpose-built foundry in Nairn, Highland, where building work was completed just last week.

This is the latest in a long line of pieces from Black Isle Bronze which for eight years has been working in a large shed. But this hasn’t held back

business - they once cast replicas of the Maltese Falcon for Harry Winston’s diamond store in New York. [The same Harry Winston mentioned in Marilyn

Monroe’s tribute to her favourite gems: Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.]

And the firm’s illustrious ‘cast list’ so far includes pieces for Rory Bremner, Twickenham rugby stadium, Lords cricket ground, Paul Getty, Vicountess Linley and the Olivier Awards.

Black Isle Bronze’s new premises in Nairn were finished last week enabling finishing work on the sculpture to take place before Mr Hiro Kashiwa visited

Nairn on Saturday. Mr Kashiwa made his final inspection of the horses which was commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Chukyo Racecourse Owners’ Association.

The commission is the largest for Black Isle Bronze so far and marks a turning point. With its future assured Black Isle Bronze plans to double its workforce over the next three years and will be actively training up staff in foundry skills.

"Now we’re working in conditions which will enable us to produce excellent quality work and allow us to compete with art foundries all over the world," said the firm’s proprietor Farquhar Laing.

"The first bronze to leave the foundry is an export and will be a permanent testament to our skills and techniques."

The new foundry was built with financial support from Inverness and Nairn Enterprise and the Adam & Co Bank.

"We are delighted to be able to help Black Isle Bronze," said Maria Peter of Inverness and Nairn Enterprise. "We have a long association with the company and have assisted all along the way. This is a unique service for our area and we anticipate further jobs will be created and skills developed locally," said Frank Hoskins of Adam & Co. "We have watched Farquhar's business grow from strength to strength over the years to have a world-wide reputation."

As well as overseas commissions, Black Isle Bronze will be working on local projects including a newly-commissioned piece for the Eastgate Centre extension and a sculpture to commemorate the Highland Clearances.

‘The Mare and Foal’ piece was created by leading sculptor Philip Blacker who created the bronze of Red Rum which now stands at Aintree Racecourse.