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I’ve got a strict no google rule as well Seasider, but I suppose it’s ok if you declare that you’ve googled. I got the answer approximately 40 seconds after my Skyscraper answer, so I’m good to go if the question rolls on too long, though I’m never keen on setting the questions.
Interesting that Drone raised the significance of the use of the word Skyscraper in that era. When I had first heard that the word had been used so long back, I had to to do a bit of digging. That’s the only reason I was able to give any answer to the question at all.
VTC –
smallbutmighty seems pretty sure she has the horse in question but is willing to wait and see whether someone else posts the answer. Please post your horse, otherwise we might soon have several participants knowing the answer but not submitting it. :)
If neither you or sbm (or anyone else) has set a question by this evening I’ll post another myself.
Concerning flying horses
Until the back end of the 19th century, most paintings or drawings of racehorses at a gallop depicted them with the front legs extended forwards, hind legs extended to the rear, and all hooves off the ground. As per the linked artwork in the question.
This was because the human eye couldn’t break down the action of the gallop. It was just too quick. The invention of photography shed some light on what was really happening. A photographer named Eadweard Muybridge set up a series of cameras in a line along the side of the track to capture images of a horse in fast motion. Putting these images together he proved that while a horse did have all its hooves off the ground at some point during the gallop, it didn’t happen as imagined by contemporary artists and illustrators. Rather, it happened when its legs were collected beneath its body as it switched from pulling with the front legs to pushing with the hind legs. See this gif:
Following this discovery, later artists painted galloping horses in the manner shown to be correct by Muybridge.
I’ve seen plenty of work at antique places with the flying action.
any artist worth looking out for…..?Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
You’ve got me there Nathan.
Most of the early paintings I’ve seen, which would be prior to 1878 when Muybridge made his discovery, are those of horses standing still. I’m thinking of Eclipse (George Stubbs) Flying Childers (Daniel Quigley) Gimcrack (Stubbs again) and maybe a few others. There’s one here of Bloomsbury’s Derby win in 1839.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-1839-derby-bloomsbury-beating-deception-11353
The scene is more head on than that of Gustavus (well done VTC) so the flying aspect is not as clear. I’ll try and find better examples of racehorses galloping for you. Incidentally, the 1839 race was run in a snowstorm hence the white dots on the canvas.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am by no means an art buff. Asked to state the difference between the Mona Lisa and the Laughing Cavalier I’d say the former is a woman and the latter a man.
I think I’ve got that the right way round.
Concerning Gericault’s ‘The 1821 Derby at Epsom’.
Gericault uses some artistic licence in his painting. It depicts a scene supposedly close to the winning post. Four horses are within a couple of lengths of each other, two of which are under pressure.
Contemporary reports suggest the race unfolded otherwise. Apparently Reginald set off in front pursued by Gustavus and the pair turned the race into a virtual match. (Reginald is almost certainly the black horse nearest to us with his jockey seemingly holding a double handful.) Gustavus ultimately got up to win a ½ length. Maybe the artist thought his work would look better with more horses involved in the finish.
One of the reasons I like the painting is that it illustrates how hopeless I am at betting in running. Looking at the scene, and absent any further information, especially the result, I’m convinced that Gustavus can’t win from that position. So 194 years after the race was run I’m still willing to lay Gustavus all day long. My one concern is that Reginald is a bridle horse and will fold just before the line. (smiley).
The picture is also noteworthy for what it does not show. The horses have no number cloths. They didn’t come into play until about 100 years later. There is no running rail, and I’m wondering when they were first used at racecourses. There’s a white pole at the right of the painting but it has no number. I’m curious to know what the pole was for, and when furlong markers were first employed. The tails on three of the horses, and probably the fourth as well, have been docked. That was the fashion of the times, but I’m guessing that docking was proscribed at some stage. I’m wondering when that happened. (A horse really needs its tail to swat away unwelcome insects.)
I think that’s about it. Another question to follow later unless someone else wants to pose their own.
Who has an association with both a British pop group who had two chart topping singles and a 21st century English 2,000 Guineas winner.
I don’t know but my friend said Status Quo are playing Taunton in the Summer and keeps going on about a song called Cockney Rebel who of course won the English 2,000 guineas and Irish version.
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Cockney Rebel is the 2,000 Guineas winner.
(Coincidentally, CR was the backing group for a singer who also had a No.1 hit in the 1970s.)
Status Quo is not relevant to the question or the answer so we are still looking for the group and the connection.
Wasn’t Geoff Huffer the drummer for Mungo Jerry or someone like that? and the trainer of Cockney Rebel
Your answer is correct raymo61. Well done.
I think there’s a rule that racehorse trainers who previously played in pop groups must have been drummers. I’m looking at you, Richard Hannon.
Anyway, Huffer states in a June 2007 interview with Cornelius Lysaght like so:
I was with them (Mungo Jerry) for a bit as a session drummer. I had been involved in racing before, but had a sabbatical and was part of their entourage in the 70s when they had hits with ‘In The Summertime’ and ‘Baby Jump’. They were fantastic times, nearly as good as the times I am having at the moment.
He doesn’t specifically say that he was with the band when they recorded In The Summertime and Baby Jump. I don’t think he was. But he certainly toured with them in the 1970s.
GH had planned to return to the training ranks this year on the expiry of his 4 year ban incurred following the Sabre Light affair at Lingfield in 2008:
but withdrew his application to the BHA in March. I’ve no idea what he is doing now.
Moving forward in time to 2012, what common factor unites jockeys M Goldstein & AP Cawley.
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