The Turf: Social and Economic History of Horse Racing

Viking. Very Good/Very Good. 1976. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0713907304 Dust jacket preice clipped, slight wear to edges, slight fading. Original cloth boards with bright silver titling on spine. No ownership marks.288 pages clean and tight. Racing in Britain today is a vastly different affair from that of the eighteenth century. Then racing was a tree, social event, the highlight of the entertainment calendar for the bulk of the local community. By the late nineteenth century most race meetings were highly commercial enterprises, requiring payment from all spectators, many of whom had travelled some distance to attend. Today the typical turf follower Prefers to view racing.isom ths.combLt of his-armchair ant-the spethas-*eme-toaely heavily upon sponsorship and,the Bttiing Levy-Board for its finances. This book attempts a social andsconomic analysis of the major changes in British flat racing, concentrating in particular on the period between 1830 and 1939. Four major themes are explored. Part-one is concerned with the changing character and structure of the sport. Part two deals with the morality of racing, a corrupt sport per exce//ence for much of the nineteenth-century. Pän three concentrates on four catgories of participants in racing - jockeys, trainers, owners and breeders - and assesses whether or not they could make money out of racing. Part four relates to gambling and its important symbiotic relationship with racing. .