JOHN FREDERICK HERRING SR. AND JAMES POLLARD | THE DEAD HEAT FOR THE DONCASTER GREAT ST. LEGER, 1839

John Scott of Whitewall 

Daniel Cooper, Esq., Warren Tower, Newmarket (and sold, Christie's, London, May 29, 1893, lot 42) 

Sale: Sotheby's, London, July 15, 1987, lot 166, illustrated 

Arthur Ackermann, & Son, Ltd., London

Private Collection, New York

Thence by descent

The St Leger Stakes has been run at Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, every year since 1776. The race is the oldest of Britain’s five Classics – the most prestigious set of races for three-year old thoroughbreds, consisting of the 2,000 Guineas Stakes and 1,000 Guineas Stakes, both run in mid-Spring at Newmarket and The Derby and The Oaks, both run at Epson Downs in early June. The St Leger Stakes is the only race that is open to both fillies and colts and is the longest of all the races, run over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 115 yards (2,921 meters).

The 1839 running of the race ended in a dead heat between Major Yarburgh’s Charles XII, ridden by William Scott—the brother of the first owner of the present work—and Mr. Thornhill’s Euclid, ridden by Patrick Connolly. A second challenge, also staged at Doncaster, proved equally thrilling, though Charles XII won by a head. Both horses were painted together by Herring after the race, one version of which is now in the collection of the Doncaster City Art Gallery (fig. 1). Like many of Herring’s works, both of these compositions featuring Charles XII and Euclid were engraved by Charles Hunt for mass distribution.

The present work is one of a number of collaborations between John Frederick Herring Sr., one of the great British equestrian painters of the nineteenth century, and James Pollard. Other works include the Doncaster Gold Cup of 1838 and the Emperor of Russia’s Cup at Ascot in 1845. In each work, Herring painted the race and horses while Pollard depicted the grandstands and thronging crowds.