Manual Ref* SUfhNE001 Show 7 images 622
Title*

Hyperion
County Suffolk   District Council Forest Heath 
Civil Parish or equivalent Newmarket  Town/Village* Newmarket 
Road High Street 
Precise Location In front of the Jockey Club 
OS Grid Ref TL642632  Postcode CB8 
Previous location(s) Exhibited Royal Academy 1962, then on display outside Lord Derby's estate on the Snailwell Road, Newmarket, bequeathed to Jockey Club in 1994 
Setting Small open courtyard on the High Street in front of the Jockey Club  Access Private 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
John Skeaping  Sculptor(s)  with 
H.H. Martyn & Co. Ltd of Cheltenham  Foundry   
Sir Albert Richardson  Architect(s)   

Commissioned by

 18th Earl of Derby 

Design & Constrn period

 1961-62, installed outside Jockey Club late 1995 or early 1996 

Date of installing

  

Exact date of unveiling

  

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Equestrian

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Statue  Bronze  H 2 m (approx) x L 235 cm x W 63 cm 
Pedestal  Limestone  H 93 cm x L 225 cm x W 89 cm 
Keystones  Stone   
Railings  Cast iron   

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Jockey Club 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail:

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks On front of base: JOHN SKEAPING 1961; at rear: H.H. MARTYN & CO, CHELTENHAM  
Inscriptions HYPERION 1930-1960 A plaque just behind the railings sets out Hyperion's record as a racer and stud. 

Description (physical)

 Lifesize equestrian statue of Hyperion, without bridle and with a highly polished finish, on a rectangular base on a stone pedestal. Hyperion stands in a courtyard behind cast-iron railings with gates at either ends and elegant lamps, with crescent moons (found on the key-stone of Hyperion), and supports decorated with bronze heads of winged Mercury, reflecting the key-stones above the three arches on the main façade. The classically inspired heads are identified by their inscriptions: in the centre Mercury, the Roman version of the Greek Hermes, god of, among much else, luck and wealth; to the right Atalanta, in Greek mythology a great huntress, only beaten in a running race by Hippomenes, when he threw down three of the golden apples of the Hesperides, which Atalanta stopped to pick up; fittingly the figure to right is Hyperion (he who watches above), in Greek mythology one of the Titans, father of the sun or the sun itself, with flames for hair and a crescent moon around his neck. 

Description (iconographical)

 The Jockey Club was founded around 1750 by a group of gentlemen brought together by their shared passion for and commitment to horseracing. Initially meeting at the ‘Star and Garter’ in Pall Mall in London, the Club soon relocated to Newmarket, and before long moved to the site of the current Jockey Club Rooms in the High Street, designed by the Essex architect John Johnson in 1771, and rebuilt as an imposing Georgian style building by Sir Albert Richardson in 1933. Hyperion is considered one of the most important thoroughbreds of the Twentieth Century, both as a runner and as a sire. A genuine crack on the racecourse, he sired numerous classic winners, leading sires around the world, and top broodmares, making him one of the most influential sires of all time. His major racing wins, for the 17th Earl of Derby: Dewhurst Stakes (1932) Prince of Wales's Stakes (1933) Chester Vase (1933) Epsom Derby (1933) St. Leger Stakes (1933). Hyperion was inherited by the 18th Earl of Derby, who commissioned the sculpture following Hyperion's death from John Skeaping. It was presented to the Jockey Club by his nephew the 19th Earl shortly after he inherited the title, when the family’s Newmarket stud was sold to Sheikh Mohammed. The statue of was recreated from study of the skeleton (now in the museum at the Animal Healthcare Trust), photographs and the loan of a horse which had looked something like Hyperion. This was Skeaping's first life-size sculpture of a horse. The maquette, having been approved by Lord Derby, was made up into an armature to be covered with a ton and a half of clay. The first armature collapsed, but the sculpture was completed by the following year and was exhibited at the Royal Academy before going to Lord Derby's estate at Newmarket. 

Photographs

 Date taken:  5/8/2009
Date logged:  9/6/2006

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  8/6/2006

Inspected by:
David Hulks

Sources and References

 J. Skeaping, Drawn from Life: An Autobiography, London, 1977, 226-8; www.localauthoritypublishing.co.uk/councils/newmarket/racing.html accessed 15-Jun-07; Information from Alan Grundy assistant curator, National Horseracing Museum; Imagesofengland.org.uk accessed 04/08/2009; N. Pevsner, with E. Radcliffe, Buildings of England. Suffolk, Harmondsworth,1975,377 

Database

 Date entered:  15/6/2007

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke