John Emms 1843-1912

The race in the present work was officially called the Dumfriesshire Hunt Cup. It was a handicap ran on 9th April 1892 over 3 miles at the Dumfriesshire Hunt Meeting. This took place at Collin Village near Dumfries and the race was worth the sum of £29 to the winner.
There was a field of five which was won by Mr F Joynson's Meadow Queen by a length from Mr A J S Johnstone's Mayfair and Mr Joynson's other runner Meadow Grass. The winner started at odds of 6 to 4 and was ridden by James Knox who can be seen in the picture unsaddling Meadow Queen, wearing Mr Joynson's colours of blue, white spots and black cap. Knox rode a treble on the day.
This is an interesting work in that, unlike the majority of Emms painting, it is very documentary.  The discipline and acuracy with which the artist has recorded the scene has not however, undermined the deft and vivacious use of paint which imbues man and horse with a strong sense of movement and life.