A Park Meeting, The Eclipse Stakes, Sandown Park

While the majority of Munnings’s Starts depict the broad, open heathland of the course at Newmarket, he made smaller groups of parade and start pictures at other courses, in each case realizing the importance of finding the identifying features that established the character of each track. Here the subject is the saddling paddock at Sandown Park, Surrey, with the magnificent beech trees set behind. Sandown is a dual race course running both flat and National Hunt (jumps) races depending on the season. Every July it holds the prestigious Eclipse Stakes, a difficult, right-handed race for three and four year olds, run over one mile and two furlongs with an uphill finish. Inaugurated in 1886 it was then the richest race in England with a prize fund of £10,000 donated by Leopold de Rothschild, although presently the prize money is £750,000.
Munnings recalled a similar scene at Sandown in his memoirs, ‘In the paddock, saddling for first race… Grouping in three dimensions all very beautiful. Thought how well they looked going out by the big beeches. Spots of charming color.’ (The Finish, 1952, p. 47). It is a sight familiar to all race goers, and in A Park Meeting, Eclipse Stakes, Sandown Park Munnings encapsulates the sense of anticipation in the air. The sunlight gleams on the horses’ flanks and the brightly colored silks of the jockeys, as owners and trainers impart last minute tips and spectators crowd in the distance to decide between the runners and riders.
We are grateful to Lorian Peralta-Ramos, Tristram Lewis and the Curatorial staff at The Munnings Museum for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.