Flying Childers, the Duke of Devonshire's bay Racehorse, with a groom up, in a landscape

Flying Childers, by the Darley Arabian out of Betty Leedes, was bred by Colonel Childers at Doncaster. Foaled in 1715, he was sold as a yearling to William, 2nd Duke of Devonshire, in whose livery the groom in this picture is shown. Known at the time as Childers ('Flying' was a soubriquet added later), he was the most celebrated racehorse of his generation and was never beaten.

It has been suggested that the house visible in the background may be Chatsworth, where Flying Childers retired to stud in 1722.