April 7, 2011
Stubbs Masterpiece to Be Auctioned at Christie’s
Do you have a spare thirty-three million dollars sitting around? If so, you might be able to exchange that piece of change for a George Stubbs masterpiece on July 5. Christie’s of London plans to sell “Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, With a Trainer, A Stable Lad, And A Jockey,” and that’s their estimate of the painting’s value. You’ll need a large wall upon which to hang it, though. It measures more than six feet by three feet. According to John Stainton, senior director of British pictures at Christie’s, this is “one of the finest sporting pictures ever painted.” It last sold for 12,600 pounds in 1951 and is being sold now by the owners of the Woolvington Collection of sporting art. Posted April 9, 2011... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here
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Reader Survey – Poetry
A recent FHL News item, “The Happiest Pair in Ireland” (above), reported that a reworked version of Will Ogilvie’s poem, “The Happiest Man in England” (just above) was read to the bride and groom. The News report reminded us of that wonderful Ogilvie poem—the original, that is—and we hope readers will enjoy it here. Ogilvie and others wrote many brilliant foxhunting poems which we would like to share from time to time and collect in our Literature section, but only if readers have an appetite for poetry. Please help us publish what you like by taking this quick survey. {loadposition poetrypoll}... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here
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Jeff Murphy Has Two Winners at Orange County
Jeff Murphy brought two winners home—one over timber, the other over hurdles—at the Orange County Point-to-Point on Sunday, April 3, at Locust Hill Farm in Middleburg, Virginia.
Murphy’s win on Aero (photo) in the Novice Timber race was a repeat performance of the pair’s previous win at Warrenton this spring. This time, Aero stalked fifth-place finisher Thynnus twice around the course. Five fences from the finish Aero went to the front, was overtaken by third-place finisher I’m A Hokie, regained the lead with two fences remaining, and drew away in the stretch to win by seven lengths. Aero is trained by Doug Fout and owned by Alfred C. Griffin, Jr.
