Studies of the Unsaddling Enclosure at Epsom, recto and verso

Munnings loved racing and attended many race meetings, executing swift pencil sketches to be worked up in the studio. The present work, of the Unsaddling Enclosure at Epsom, includes on the verso the note 'remember paddock background for D. winner'. He produced at least four versions of the finished work, each slightly different but using the same configuration, showing the Derby winner being brought back for inspection by the enthusiastic spectators.

The Derby, staged at Epsom Downs, remains the most important fixture in the Racing calendar. For Munnings it was not so much the racing itself that appealed but the events surrounding the event: the preparations of the jockeys before the race and the activities afterwards being some of his favourite motifs.