The Racing Tribe: Watching the Horsewatchers

Synopsis

Anthropologists are supposed to do their research in remote, uncomfortable, unpronouncable parts of the world - places with monsoons, mud-huts and malaria. Kate Fox was given an altogether more enjoyable assignment: to study the arcane world of horseracing - the whole racing tribe, from race-goers to jockeys, trainers, bookies and stewards. An unexpected world is revealed from an entirely different perspective. Instead of an amorphous racing crowd, Kate sees enthusiasts, horseys, addicts, anoraks, socials, pair-bonders, suits and be-seens. Among the racing professionals, she identifies shamans and warriors, scribes and elders, connections and sin-eaters. The author spends time with each of these groups, finding out how to identify them from their dress, body-language and behavioural quirks; learning about their position in the social structure of the tribe, their attitudes and beliefs, their territories and habitats. Every kind of racegoer - and even those who've never been - will be intrigued and entertained by this book; Kate Fox does for the racing world what Desmond Morris and David Attenborough have done for the animal kingdom.