The Jockeys and the Champions’ Record · The Jockeys
Tom Cannon (Vanity Fair)
Leslie Ward ('Spy'), chromolithograph, Vanity Fair, 1885 · chromolithograph
What it is
Tom Cannon, set down by Spy in his racing silks, the rider whose seat and whose sons both went on to shape a generation of English racing.
Why it matters
Cannon rode through the middle decades of the Victorian turf and founded, in the process, one of its enduring riding families — a name that kept turning up in the weighing room long after this plate went to print.
What to notice
the restraint in Spy's line here, none of the exaggeration he gave lesser riders, a caricaturist's tell for genuine respect.
A dynasty starts as one man doing the job well.
Provenance
- Maker
- Leslie Ward ('Spy'), chromolithograph, Vanity Fair, 1885
- Era
- The Victorian Turf (1837–1901)
- Chapter
- The Names on the Board
- Medium
- chromolithograph
- Made
- 1885
- Figure
- Tom Cannon
- Source
- Vanity Fair caricature
Publicity
Clear — the historic British turf (the Victorian jockeys, the Vanity Fair subjects): a long-deceased figure with no post-mortem right of publicity in play. Sold as history, freely and openly.
Print master
The largest formats are printed from a master enlarged 3× from the surviving 594×908 scan by AI enhancement (Claid smart-enhance), prepared for the considered detail of a print viewed at distance. The source record above is unchanged — the enhancement serves the wall, not the archive.
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the work’s own year of publication. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-20.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 11x17" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
More from the Stable Wall
The Jockey — Fred Archer
The Champion at Stride
Sam Loates (Vanity Fair)
Mr Arthur Coventry, 'The Baby' (Vanity Fair)
Elsewhere in the family
- The Links — the other morning religion.
- Painted Lineage — the bloodline, beside the family line.
- Painted Earth — home ground as a period map.