The Sport of Kings: Kinship, Class and Thoroughbred Breeding in Newmarket - Hardcover

Cassidy, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521808774 ISBN 13: 9780521808774

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

The Sport of Kings is an ethnography of the British racing industry based upon two years of participant observation in Newmarket, the international headquarters of flat racing. Racing in Britain provides a lens through which ideas of class, status, tradition and hierarchy can be examined in an environment which is both superficially familiar and richly exotic. This book explores concepts about 'nature' specific to thoroughbred racehorse breeding, and pursues the idea that in making statements about animals, we reveal something of ourselves. It explains the action that takes place on racecourses, in training yards, on studs and at bloodstock auctions. It analyses the consumption of racing through betting on the racecourse and in betting shops, and it proffers an insightful description of a unique class system: that of the humans and animals involved in the production of British flat racing.

About this title

Review:

'This is an exhilarating book. You feel affection and empathy for Newmarket people ... Above all, the reader feels affection towards the author ... we watch over her, sleeping in the back of a smelly horse box, returning from a race ... [The book] is both academic and animal, with the author putting herself on the line.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

'... a finely nuanced analytical and interpretative account of the society and culture that centers on producing and interacting with the most expensive animals in the world. Anthrozoology needs many more such studies.' Anthrozoös

'This entertaining book deals with kinship, class, and breeding through an ethnographic study of the racing industry, and, specifically, of the Newmarket stud farm and racing stables ... Her background is comfortable enough for her to move between different social groups, her authorial expertise deriving from her roles as owner, trainer, trainer's assistant, stable lass, and stud hand. ... This enjoyable book is recommended as a case study to those who wish to have some idea of the interaction of British class, capital, and kinship in the racing industry, without the financial outlay that hands-on experience requires.' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Book Description:

A 'behind the scenes' description of British flat racing based on the experiences of an academic living and working in Newmarket, regarded as the international headquarters of flat racing. Rebecca Cassidy offers explanations of the rituals involved in horseracing, and shows how racing, betting and the bloodstock industry fit together.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0521808774
• ISBN 13: 9780521808774
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200