After the Race, Cheltenham portrays a horse in a paddock just after its race. It appears exhausted with its head held low, breathing heavily, the jockey relaxed in his saddle, the reins loose in his hands. It is the artist's knowledge as a horseman which captures the familiar gestures often missed. Unless the work was expressly commissioned, Munnings did not usually name the subjects in his paintings, often using his own horses as models, even to the extent of having his wife ride a hunter several times round a field to help him with a portrait of ‘a tired hunter’. The colours worn by the jockeys in this painting are not specific to a particular owner or owners. Munnings used similar colours in many of his non-commissioned works.
[Trinity House Auctions, London & New York - Oil on panel, 40.64 x 50.8 cm]