The jockey Samuel Chifney the Elder, wearing George, Prince of Wales' racing colours, holds the bridle of 'Escape', the Prince's bay horse. Originally from Yorkshire, Chifney (c.1753-1807) was considered one of the best jockeys of his day, and he served the Prince of Wales on a retainer from 1790. He was famous for the so-called 'Chifney rush', whereby he would stay off the pace until the final sprint, thereby (in the words of one commentator) turning racing 'from a ritual slogging match, to a mounted chess game'. However, his career ended when he was involved in a betting scandal at Newmarket the following year, whilst riding Escape.

Unusually, this picture is not a painting but a painted print mounted onto canvas, and therefore probably a painted reproduction of another original. The presence of both Escape and Chifney – together with the race meet in the background – might have made the composition particularly attractive to printmakers in the period immediately after what was often dubbed the 'Escape scandal'.