Lot Essay
On 26 April 1705, the diarist Luttrell recorded 'The Queen has ordered her house at Newmarket to be rebuilt and gave 1,000 towards paving the town and bought a stunning horse of Mr. Holloway which cost 1,000 guineas and gave it to the Prince'. This racehorse is presumed to be the Leeds (or Leedes) bred by Mr Leedes, a major early breeder based in Yorkshire, using his stallion the Leeds Arabian. His arabian was also painted by Wootton and had nearly identical markings. There are relatively few details recording the form of many good racehorses of the period, but it is known that Leeds was used widely as a stallion and sired, among others, the Duke of Bridgewater's champion Ashridge (or Astridge) Ball. A painting by Wootton of this latter horse was also included, among a group of seven works by the artist, in Lord Sherborne's 1929 sale at Christie's.