Henry Thomas Alken Snr.

As the horses moved to the post for the start of the Derby Stakes of 1850, the on-looking crowd was prepared to ignore the unknown Voltigeur, by Voltaire out of Martha Lynn, foaled in 1847 and purchased by the Earl of Zetland. Indeed, in Alken's work it is difficult to pick out one horse from another as, flag dropped, they start, ready to shift and break away from the group. Lost among the favored runners, shipped from the north in Yorkshire and adjusting from a stressful train journey, Voltigeur had seemed uncomfortable in his first gallop ridden by Job Marson over the Epsom Down. At his next gallop, Voltigeur sailed past an illustrious field, including 2,000 Guineas champion chestnut colt Pitsford, in time that was ten seconds faster than the three minutes for the mile and a half posted by The Flying Dutchman the previous year (see lot 10). A contemporary poem of the racetrack read "who beats The Dutchman must be Bezzlebub himself," and Voltigeur would earn this dubious reputation as he met and beat his rival at the Doncaster Cup later the same year.

This intriguing past, present, and future of meeting and rematching racing champions is what makes Alken's work so fascinating; among the many competitors at the Start, only a special few would go on to lasting glory. The picture is therefore both a testament to the artist's skill in depicting the various attributes of the competing horses, jockeys, and onlookers at the track as well as a memorial to racing history and its champions.