Doing it for Daddy

Abstract

Introduction In this chapter I shall concentrate upon the relationship between racehorses and humans that obtains in contemporary Newmarket. This relationship takes the form of an intersubjectivity whereby gains or losses in status of the racehorse accrue to those with whom it is associated. This relationship is relevant to all aspects of racing, as it facilitates the cross-over of ideas of pedigree from horses to humans. Although I shall draw specifically upon fieldwork conducted on a stud during the spring of 1997, the analysis in this chapter is informed by all of my fieldwork. The first section describes the personalisation of racehorses as it occurs on the thoroughbred stud. In this environment, racehorses are granted traits more commonly attributed to humans. This personalisation is significant because it is carried over into their relationships with humans, such that the discourse of personalities in Newmarket includes both humans and animals. Contextualising this chapter is Clutton-Brock's contention that: ‘a domestic animal is a cultural artefact of human society’ (1994: 28), and its enquiry is centred around asking what the racehorse reveals about the human society by which it is defined. Lévi-Strauss separated racehorses from human society, saying that they: do not form part of human society either as subjects or objects … they are products of human industry and they are born and live as isolated individuals juxtaposed in stud farms devised for their own sake … They constitute the desocialised condition of existence of a private society. (1966: 122)

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