Festival Trials Day, 25th January 2014

Festival Trials Day is the last day of racing at Cheltenham before the four-day Festival in March. During a week when large tracts of Somerset disappeared underwater and freak weather events battered the country, the racing hardcore descended upon the racetrack undeterred to pay their dues. Unsurprisingly, the Club lawn was roped off and the ground declared Heavy.

Since this meeting is generally all about gleaning any tips and form for the forthcoming Festival I decided to spend most of the day drawing in the Tattersalls - the main betting ring in front of the Grandstand. This meant I could also get under the cover of the stands should the weather turn, as I fully expected it to do.

This is a view from the near end of the Grandstand across the betting ring with Cleeve Hill in the background. The light was initially quite bright and the weather clear if blustery.

All the best characters - like this lady wearing several different animals - are to be found in the Tattersalls where the punters monitor the changing prices on the horses before putting their money on. Each betting company operates a 'pitch', which consists of an electronic board and sign mounted on a stand, to which is attached a small staff and a collection of boxes, bags and trolleys to set the thing up and take it home at the end of the day. Each bookie has a man or woman sitting at the computer set up behind the pitch, presumably to keep the odds updated (above). Below, this casually-dressed punter collected a sheaf of notes from this bookie so had obviously had a good win:

Above: this lone punter kept his eyes on the second race from minute one and only gave up towards the end. Below are two drawings that didn't quite come off as the subjects decided to shift off too soon:

Some of the bookies have traditional names - some very old - and others opt for puns such as 'Spread Ex', above. This bookmaker was really a kind looking fellow. Some betting-ring characters, such as the gentleman below, seem to have no discernible function - he hovered around the same pitch all day without ever seeming to do any work or place any bets:

Below, this priceless granny was huddling against the cold - or perhaps her bets weren't coming off:

Above, I thought these chaps looked quite distinguished, but I didn't get their colours. The chap in the hat was wearing a striped puce and emerald suit (natch) while his friend was more casually attired in a navy coat and open shirt. Like something out of John Le Carre, I thought.

It started to get cold so I moved under the grandstand for protection. Above we are looking over the betting ring to the winning-post.

If I had a favourite horse, it might well be The Giant Bolster, who stayed on well to win the fourth race, the Argento Chase over 3 miles 1 furlong. He is a Gold Cup regular but generally overlooked despite finishing runner-up in 2012 and fourth in 2013. These two punters had backed him but, confusingly, appear here to be standing in mid-air in front of the big screen.

Another excellent granny; evidently a day out for all the family, and some dead animals too.

You wouldn't have known it, but in a minute or two the heavens are going to open...

... in the second spectacular thunderstorm to hit Cheltenham races this season. Sunny one minute, then the skies darken and a flash of lightening precedes an enormous clap of thunder. Hailstones and gale-force winds then proceed to blow over most of the bookies' umbrellas, destroy several food stores, loosen some fences and send debris and some unlucky punters everywhere. One of the bookmakers even lost his electronic board and had to put up a plastic whiteboard instead. I drew this mostly from memory as the storm can only have lasted five minutes and most of this time I spent looking on anxiously.

And, indeed, you wouldn't have known it had happened at all from the expression on this old boy's face, who was back to his form study as soon as he realised the worst was over. Doubtless he's seen it all before.

Finally, some more bookmakers. They perch about a foot higher than everyone else to better project their incentives and accept bets. Below: it is now gone 4 and the light is fading; I wanted to capture the orange glow projected onto this bookmaker's face from his electronic board as he accepted some last bets on the final race:

Tales From The Turf/Sporting Art and caricature

I discovered this book in the Oxfam charity book shop on Bath Road: Tales From The Turf by Jeffrey Bernard & Hugh Dodd. It was published in 1991 as a collection of columns Bernard wrote for the Sporting Life and the Spectator from the mid 70s until Bernard's death in 1997. Whether the articles were also illustrated in the magazines I don't know. Sadly the Sporting Life also died a print death in 1998 and now only exists as an anodyne betting news website with no features at all. I was in a school production of the play 'Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell,' so named after the line printed in the paper when fill-in writers covered for Bernard as he struggled with the alcoholism that was to kill him. I wasn't Bernard in the play, incidentally.

Bernard's stories are largely anecdotal and accompanied by full-colour paintings by Hugh Dodd, who at the time was mostly a caricaturist. He has gone on to major in Golf and now chiefly does landscapes of famous golf holes. At this stage he was clearly influenced by Degas and Lautrec whose use of pastel hatching to colour features in most of the pictures. I find his caricatures generally too unsympathetic and rather lacking in variation although the ones I have scanned here are exceptions. One could equally say that they do a good job at portraying the venality of the racing scene Bernard describes in his tales. There are also small sketches of horses done in pen that I prefer.

One suspects that an illustrator like Ralph Steadman might have done a better job illustrating Bernard given his association with the similarly self-destructive but entertaining Hunter S. Thompson. Yet for all this Dodd's pictures are not useless in conveying the familiar sights of horse racing, though he does very few horses. The interesting thing is that, really, the racing 'scene' has changed little since the early 90s and, were it not for the fact that this sort of caricature style has rather gone out of fashion there is very little that has dated about the content of the images.

This sort of sporting book - and the use of illustration in them - was quite common until the 1990s, and could be found across all sports. It is less common now, although not nonexistent. I suspect the professionalisation of contemporary sport has toned down the number and value of anecdotes that emerge from the ranks of increasingly musclebound, identikit players. Sport books are more often po-faced nowadays, either bone-crunchingly motivational or utterly depressing; there is less of the old school-boy humor. An exception might be found amongst cricket books which still produce a few of this type every other year. A contemporary illustrator who does sporting caricature is John Ireland:

More often we have variations on the graphic design theme, as with Phil Tufnell's latest offering: 

Most horse racing books feature nothing but photos; there are plenty of antique racing prints on the walls of the grandstand at Cheltenham racecourse but no contemporary illustrations. I have picked a hard nut to crack. Cricket is easier. Ex-cricketer turned journalist and broadcaster Simon Hughes' recent lighthearted cricket history book had a cover by Paul Slater, a take on Da Vinci's The Last Supper featuring famous cricketers (but, deeply inappropriately, none of them West Indian or Asian): 

I am not really in the business of doing covers for sports books just yet. But anything that is to do with sport is connected in some way to this sort of work, and the intent; to capture a familiar aspect of the sport and convey it in a way different to photography, is very much relevant, I feel.

Promotion Update #1

To summarise, I have thus far in regard to this project:

1: Approached chairman of racecourse to propose project - written letter and telephone follow-up. No cigar.

2: Reached press liaison officer at the racecourse through the racecourse photographer I knew from work (Gavin James). Gained press passes to one two-day meeting in December and a free ticket for the January trials meeting. Pursuing Festival passes.

3: Was approached by Three Counties race club to use some of the drawings in their publication. Also asked to do a private commission which I did but was then rejected (by the client). Pictures in their newsletter pending.

4: Have investigated several of the art galleries and artists who sell work at the racecourse. During the Festival the prices for retail tents at the racecourse rocket up to £5000+ I gather so it is likely that the scene changes somewhat during the key meeting. I have approached Dent Originals and also Elizabeth Armstrong:

The Dent bros. do contemporary equine art with a focus on scenes, famous horses and the like. They also do a line in, ahem, 'racy' stuff with scantily clad females, glamour/erotica, ladies racing fashion etc.  They do some good narrative scenes from various racecourses, eg: 

And the occasional sketch from the races itself: 

I have approached them about my project and was offered some space in their gallery to display some work. However, despite following this offer up I have heard nothing from them. I may try again. 

Elizabeth Armstrong focuses on horses exclusively and tries to capture a sense of the movement of the animal in her work in contrast to some of the more traditional equine work: 

She has been complimentary about my work but says she will not be at the Festival due to the high prices.

5: Have made this weblog! Added gallery page as outward-facing front page to the website (it redirects to the gallery page automatically as the 'home page'). Also made a business card for the blog which I printed on the MFD in the studio on card (took me several hours to get right but not too bad) and have been able to give to any interested peoples, which I must have done as I currently have only two left:

6: Have experimented with inkjet printing on Andrew's office printer - sadly only able to get 2-3 prints done (decent quality) as the paper I bought doesn't agree with the machine and is regularly spat out. Intend to investigate giclee printer at Hardwick soon.

7: With some prints done I intend to approach some of the galleries in town with a view to having stuff for sale in March for the Festival. I have bought a display booklet to house some samples.

8: It has also been suggested I approach Cotswold Life magazine.

New Year's Day

I wasn't at the New Year's Day meeting at Cheltenham as the weather was truly horrible and there was some doubt as to whether racing would go ahead at all. In the end, they did get some in, but I doubt I would have got any drawing done in the howling gale and thrashing wind. So I sat at home and watched on the telly instead, with my finger on the Sky+ pause button so I could stop it and draw the horses. I didn't get a massive amount done because there was junk food clamouring for my attention. Anyway:

I hope some of this drawing will eventually percolate through and I'll be able to draw horses without much thought especially as to the proportions and the tricky legs. The features are not massively difficult. The other thing with racehorse is that they are oddly skinny and yet powerful at the same time - all muscle and no fat. So their legs look brittle and the ribs are visible but the horses are actually incredibly fit. The heads and necks also look smaller in comparison to other horses due to the generally larger size of the animal. It's also important to get the position and posture of the rider correctly.

Horse Drawings

As it has been recognised that my horses are fairly sketchy to say the least, I have endeavoured to do some horse drawing practice on various occasions. At some point in the future I may pluck up the courage to approach a riding school or even a trainer to ask if I can go and draw some of their horses in the flesh. I don't plan on making horses the focus of the project in any sense but, ye'know, it might help if I could draw them a bit better, like. So I did some basic anatomy studies from a few animal and horse drawing books to help especially with the legs and movement, which is where I've found the drawings tend to go haywire.

I'll carry on with these like as ye' can see I've barely cracked it at all. Horses legs are a damned hard thing to draw and no mishtake.