John Harris after Harry Hall

Wild Dayrell, Winner of the Derby Stakes at Epsom 1855. The property of F. L. Popham Esq.
Was bred in 1852 by Ion out of Ellen Middleton. Trained by Rickaby, Ridden by Robert Sherwood. 191 Subscribers, 12 Started.

36 x 30.5 inches

A large-scale aquatint in full original colour; engraved by John Harris after Harry Hall and published in London in 1855.

Wild Dayrell was a massive horse (standing at 16.1 hands) and an unexpected winner. His owner, Francis Popham, named him after a disreputable ancestor who was said to have thrown an illegitimate baby to its death on a fire. The ghost was said to haunt Littlecote House where Popham lived but this inauspicious link was not detrimental to the horse's success. It raced for two seasons in 1854 and 1855 and won the Derby at Epsom where this print was taken. What made the win even more unusual was that neither Popham nor his trainer, Mr. Rickaby, had any previous experience with thoroughbred horses!

Harris and Hall were a formidable combination of engraver and artist, working throughout the middle of the C19th when sporting and marine aquatints were at the height of their popularity.