Fashion, fantasy and fallen horses: alternate images of thoroughbred racing

Abstract

Thoroughbred racing is promoted as the ‘Sport of Kings’ and thousands of racegoers emulate a wealthy leisured elite at the track and through gambling and horse ownership, seek large financial profits. One of the norms of this racing culture involves a particular clothing style of high fashion which helps to promote racing as glamorous and exciting. In recent years racing has been subjected to a number of shocks resulting from high-profile media work by activist groups concerning horrific horse injuries and deaths at the track, plus claims of widespread cruelty, ‘wastage’ and whipping. This paper juxtaposes these two racing worlds. It illuminates the position of the animals upon which the industry so heavily depends and argues that in an age of increasing concern for animal welfare, racegoers and the community ought to know how their entertainment was produced. The paper results from a collaboration between academic endeavour and animal activist work.

Keywords:

• thoroughbreds
• fashion
• wastage
• jumps racing
• activists
• animals

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. We also wish to dedicate this paper to Dr Keith Akers.

Notes on contributors

Dr Caroline Winter is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Business at Federation University Australia. Her research interests are in battlefield tourism, climate change and, more recently, animals in the tourism and leisure industries.

Mr Ward Young is the Communications Manager for the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, which is based in Melbourne. For several years, Ward has been actively engaged across Australia in promoting the interests and welfare of thoroughbred racehorses.