ABSTRACT

This chapter explores how owners are normally referred to among the Racing Tribe. The term also has an endearingly old-fashioned, Jane Austenish ring to it, as well as carrying an appealing suggestion that the owners' relationship to the horse is a form of kinship. Owners can come from any class or socioeconomic background – and, with the introduction of 'syndicate' ownership, from any income level. The position of owners in the Racing Tribe subculture is defined not by their social origins outside the sport, but by their relationship to the horse, their 'connection' with the Totem Animal. Although owners are a relatively high-status group within the tribe, they are not in practice treated with any exceptional deference or respect. Trainers are, strictly speaking, their employees, but at the racecourse owners and trainers are lumped together as a single category, with Owners' & Trainers' bars, Owners' & Trainers' stands.