Eugene PÉCHAUBES (1890–1967), Courses de trot (Trot Races), 1954

Gouache, watercolor, ink (pen); 44 x 61 cm (inside dimensions) in a wooden frame measuring 51 x 67 cm; signed in pencil by the artist “E Pechaubes” lower left and in ink “VINCENNES” below the composition.
Eugene PÉCHAUBES—a French painter of horses, fascinated by horse racing. For many years, he never missed a single horse race at the Parisian racetracks—Longchamp in the Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes, where trotting races have been held from 1920 to the present day. Every year in Vincennes, on the last Sunday of January, the world’s most prestigious trotting race is held—the Grand Prix d’Amérique over a distance of 2,700 meters, with horses competing for a prize pool of 1 million euros. This race was first held on February 1, 1920, in honor of the wartime allies. At the time, only 14 trotters lined up at the starting gate, and the winner was the 5-year-old stallion Pro Patria. The race was not held only in 1940–1941 due to World War II. Among the legends of this race is the stallion Ourasi, who won it four times—a feat no other trotter has yet matched. Today, approximately 33,000 spectators fill the stands to watch the opening ceremony and the race itself.