Probably commissioned by Frederick St. John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke and 3rd Viscount St. John (1732-1787), Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire.
Possibly the picture offered as 'The Property of a Nobleman'; Christie & Ansell, 10 March 1780, lot 70, as 'Mr Stubbs. Portrait of horse and groom', with the auctioneer's MS. notes [seller] 'Ld. Boli.' and [buyer] 'G.St. John' (Bolingbroke's son and heir).
James William Lowther, 1st Viscount Ullswater, Campsea Ashe, Suffolk (d. March 1949), by whose executors sold at Campsea Ashe by Messrs. Garrod, Turner, 24-31 October 1949, lot 488.
C. F. Barlow, South Africa.
Anon sale, Christie's, London, 21 November 1980, lot 51 (sold £308,000).
Anon sale, Sotheby's, New York, 29 October 1987, lot 209 (sold $1,127,500).
with The Leger Galleries, 1988, from whom purchased by the present vendor.
