From his youth, Degas was especially attracted to horses, and traveling around Italy, the artist also joined the world of equestrian sports, visiting traditional Roman races. The artist was captivated by the natural plasticity of horses, and the professionalism of the riders aroused genuine delight in him.
The first painting on this subject appeared in 1862 and was called "Gentlemen at the Races: Before the Start". The canvas is remarkable in that it can be used to trace the improvement of the technique of the artist, who did not allow himself to stop in creative development. In the first version of the work, Degas depicted the figures of riders indistinctly, while the background of the picture was a flat, unremarkable landscape, which was a tribute to the English tradition. However, after a twenty-year break, the artist decided to return to this work again. He changed it, adding factories with smoking chimneys - symbols of moving progress, and painted elements of the jockeys' clothes in bright colors that began to contrast with the leaden sky in an original way. The series of works was continued later with the paintings "Race in front of the stands", "Before the start", "Jockeys in the rain", "Horses and jockeys", "Jockeys", etc. One of the main themes of these paintings is the pre-start excitement, which gives Degas the opportunity to show the variety of poses and movements of the jockeys, as well as the grace and strength of the horses. To enhance the impression, Degas often trims the canvas, creating a sense of continuation of the action outside the picture. Landscape scenes fit well into genre scenes, as a rule, fuzzy, but giving a sense of space. In later works, the influence of Degas' passion for photography is noticeable.