Horse Hoof Racing Trophy

Victorian Irish sterling silver taxidermy horse hoof inkwell relating to the famous Meath Hunt, a foxhunting hunt based in County Meath, Ireland. The horse hoof has a hallmarked sterling silver mount depicting a realistic horsehair design. The engraving reads “MEATH HUNT Navan Races MAY 5^th 1868”. The of the horse, ÉCLAIR, is also engraved. The hoof also has a hallmarked sterling silver shoe, the hallmarks the same as the silver mounting.

Meath Hunt: based in County Meath, the 14th largest of Ireland’s 32 traditional counties with a total population in 2022 of 220,826. The county is situated in the north east of the Republic of Ireland and borders seven other counties.

The Meath Hunt Group is an ancient Irish foxhunting Hunt which first organized race meetings as an additional pleasure to foxhunting in the middle of the 19th century. One of the earliest race meetings was held in 1851 so the Navan Races, held in 1868 would be from one of the very early race meetings.

This race was the Navan Plate of 50 sovereigns over 2 miles. Mr. Peel’s “Eclair” and “Belmontine” raced neck & neck up to the final fence where Eclair came to grief & Belmontine won at a canter. This may well have been Eclair’s last race.