Salvator at Monmouth Park

Period1890

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions28 × 40 in. (71.1 × 101.6 cm)

InscribedInscribed on reverse, "Presented to / Matt Byrnes / by Geo. S. Richardson / June 20th 1891 / 'Salvator.' / Monmouth Park, Aug. 28, 1890 / Mile 135 1/2 Bergen, up / Painted by / Geo. S. Richardson / of Brooklyn / NY / 1890."

SignedSigned lower left, "Geo. S. Richardson / B'klyn N. Y. / 1890

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineGift of Bernon S. Prentice, 1931

Object number1994.585

DescriptionRacing scene of a chestnut horse with white feet and a white stripe on his nose being ridden by a jockey wearing a gold and dark blue shirt, white pants, and black and brown leather boots. The horse is depicted as galloping at full speed from left to right. The jockey, holding a riding crop, has his arm raised over his head. His brown leather saddle is placed over a white blanket on the back of the horse. A railing marks the inner edge of the track, with grass and other vegetation in its center. A line of trees appears in the distance, under a blue sky with white clouds. The horse is kicking up dust.
Curatorial RemarksA smaller version of this painting is part of the Monmouth Park Jockey Club collection.NotesOn 28 August 1890, the last day of that year's racing season at Monmouth Park near Long Branch, Monmouth County, the horse Salvator broke the mile record in one minute, 35.5 seconds. His record stood for twenty-eight years. The jockey was Marty Bergen. Salvator's effort to beat the existing mile record was unprecedented in turf annals. Held at one-to-three in the books, and Time at two-to-one, the chestnut son of Prince Charlie faced the sternest test of a career which had found him supreme to every other thoroughbred of his time. The race was immortalized in a lengthy poem titled "How Salvator Won" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

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