In May 1914, David Bomberg exhibited this modernist drawing in the ‘Jewish Section’ of the Whitechapel Art Gallery’s Twentieth Century Art: A Review of Modern Movements, which he co-curated with Jacob Epstein. Simultaneously, John Rodker reproduced it as a frontispiece in 'The Dial Monthly', explaining that it was set in a paddock at a race meeting, that the two figures (front right) were bookies, those to their left, spectators, and that the style was ‘cubist’. This key transitional work demonstrates Bomberg’s absorption and understanding of the contemporaneous European avant-garde, skilfully reworked into a drawing of startling power. However, Bomberg also combined modernist techniques with allusions to older processes: the close-grained texture is reminiscent of woodcuts, and the monochrome colouring akin to photography.