Major Eustace Loder ('Spearmint')

Leslie Ward ('Spy') presents Major Eustace Loder (1867–1914), celebrated owner of the champion racehorses Pretty Polly and Spearmint — the latter naming this plate's caption. Loder appears in a chalk-stripe double-breasted suit, bowler hat, and waxed mustache, a walking cane in one hand, the other planted on his hip: the composed, affluent posture of the Edwardian sportsman-gentleman. Ward's satirical pressure falls on class type — the prosperous racing owner rendered with the easy self-satisfaction of inherited money and turf success. The composition is straightforward flattery edged with mild mockery, typical of Vanity Fair's treatment of wealthy subjects whose social standing made outright ridicule impolitic.