This photo was taken on the first day of the new hunt season at Sandown Park racecourse in 1998. The horse was a “novice hurdler”

I was attending Sandown Park on behalf of the local paper to cover of all things a “Mr Blobby Fun Day”. As per the norm for local papers the journo had got the date wrong by about a week so I decided to take the opportunity to shoot some of the racing.


I was positioned at the last jump before the finish when this horse ( in his first race I believe ) ran up to the jump, put his front legs over and simply stopped.

I like the look on the course stewards faces; Just exactly how the hell are they going to shift this horse? Also it was my first picture published in a national paper.

After a series of dull office jobs, Stuart Saunders started as a trainee photographer in ’97 working for the agency “Photopress” covering assignments for the South London Guardian, Surrey Comet and the News Shopper.

He left the agency in 2000 to start up Digital Nation Ltd and now covers assignments for a variety of PR agencies, corporations and magazines.

Photographer since 1997, EPUK member since 2006.

See more work by Stuart Saunders