Introduction

In this chapter I discuss those people who identify themselves as ‘real’ Newmarket families. These are individuals involved in the training, breeding, buying and selling of racehorses, and I shall refer to them as the upper class of racing society. They are the primary source of ideas of pedigree, and it is their position in the social structure that is safeguarded by this ideology. In Newmarket there are a number of interconnected families who could be named by most people involved in the racing industry. The true extent of the dominance of a few families in Newmarket is not the focus of this chapter, but rather the source of this image of dominance and its purpose. I use a composite case study in order to illustrate the ideology of pedigree as it is employed by members of these families. The case study is supplemented by more general observations.

I begin by introducing the family I have chosen to present as a case study, and describing the methods I used in order to record them. I draw upon informants' discussions of marriage and, by extension, their ideas of gender. The male dominance of the sport of racing is described, and suggestions made in order to explain its resilience. In the second section of the chapter I deal with death. In relation to the ideology of pedigree, death represents a loss of blood, and is thus opposed to possible gains through marriage.