Thieves have stolen a quarter-life-size bronze sculpture of Frankie Dettori riding the Ascot Gold Cup winner Stradivarius from a Pimlico art gallery – but left £1 million worth of other art, including an original Andy Warhol painting, hanging on the wall.
They could also have helped themselves to a Bernard Buffet work worth £180,000 or the late Queen Mother’s favourite, an Edward Seago, but instead appeared to have eyes only for the bronze maquette by artist Tristram Lewis, which has been valued at a more modest £18,000 and that had been on display in the shop window.
The theft took place at Haynes Fine Art on Pimlico Road, London, last Thursday night. The thieves broke in by throwing a rock through a glass pane in the door. One climbed through the small window and went round to take the bronze out of the window before passing it out through the door to their accomplice.
However, on the shop’s CCTV, which has been shared on their own Instagram channel, the thief can then be seen returning to the scene to collect the description tag which gives details of what the bronze piece is, as well as the name of the artist. This has led the police and the gallery to come to the conclusion that the Dettori piece was stolen to order and not to be sold or melted down.
“The chap from the Met who recently recovered a Banksy is in charge of it so I think we’re in good hands,” said Tony Haynes who owns the business. “It’s one of two things; it’s either stolen to order for someone to hide away and enjoy in their house or they melt it down for scrap to fund a habit which was the big thing when we took on the premises 10 years ago.
“But by going back for the tag it suggests there’s value in what it actually is, Dettori on Stradivarius. It’s a stunning piece.”
The life-size version of the same sculpture was unveiled at Ascot Racecourse, a track where Dettori famously rode seven winners in a day in 1996, last October by the Queen and the jockey on British Champions Day, his last day riding in Britain before moving to America to continue his career. That afternoon he went on to win the Champion Stakes on King of Steel on his very last ride.
Ironically at Ascot the statue of the horse, which is near the bandstand, is diplomatically not named as being Stradivarius because, by that stage, Dettori and the owner had fallen out and the jockey had been very publicly sacked from riding the little chestnut after what was considered an injudicious ride in the 2022 Gold Cup. It had also contributed to Dettori and trainer John Gosden taking a short sabbatical from each other that summer.
The move to America after Dettori had initially said he would retire, has, however, revitalised the jockey’s career and, based at Santa Anita in Los Angeles, he has been a huge success. Indeed the only hiccup was last month he dislocated his shoulder but he was back winning within a fortnight and is in for the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar near San Diego at the start of November where he is sure to be in demand with both US and British trainers.
A limited edition of five maquettes were made, with this stolen piece the third in the series. The only other one to have come up for sale made £32,000 at the Sir Peter O’Sullevan charity lunch auction last December.
Despite the loss but aware of what the thieves did not take, Lewis – the sculptor who grew up in Spain and was skipper of a tuna fishing boat in Cape Verde before he became a full-time artist aged 50 – was taking a positive from a negative. “In a way,” he said, “it’s almost a compliment.”
