A bronze statue of Frankie Dettori mounted on Stradivarius now stands at Ascot Racecourse. The artwork, created by sculptor Tristram Lewis, was unveiled by Queen Camilla in October 2023 on QIPCO British Champions Day, marking Dettori’s professional farewell to the UK.
The Unveiling and the Artist
The statue is installed on the Grandstand Lawn. Photographs of the presentation reveal evident enthusiasm for his immortalisation in art.
Lewis is known for putting people on horses. He grew up in a creative household and was inspired by the horse paintings of George Stubbs and Alfred Munnings from a young age.
Lewis also spent time trading commodities in London before taking up art full-time in 2014, aged 50. He would visit galleries around St James’s or to Tate Britain during his time in London.
Lewis’s Equestrian Inspirations
Tristram discovered Munnings’ sculptures and made a pilgrimage to Mells in Somerset aged 18 to see Munnings’ mounted statue of Edward Horner. He was greatly taken by the Jockey Club-commissioned Munnings sculpture of Cheltenham Champion Hurdle-winner Brown Jack.
‘That, to me, is the finest representation of a thoroughbred horse anyone has produced,’ Tristram eulogises. ‘It’s heartbreakingly good; it’s astonishing.’
Lewis also uses the bones of his late family courser ‘Woody’, retired thoroughbred Quickswood, as informative anatomical props for his sculptures.
Dettori’s Day at Ascot
Dettori secured a double triumph on King Of Steel and Trawlerman during the raceday of the unveiling. This gave him cause for celebration alongside the unveiling.
Tristram Lewis worked on waxes for the Frankie Dettori sculpture at the Italian foundry which cast it.
Lewis says, ‘Some artists sculpt people and some sculpt horses. I think my niche is putting people on horses.’