An authoritative and comprehensive illustrated work of reference, which tells the story of the "sport of kings" from its earliest inception to the present day.

The Encyclopedia of British Horse Racing offers an innovative approach to one of Britain's oldest sports. While it considers the traditional themes of gambling and breeding, and contains biographies of human personalities and equine stars, it also devotes significant space to neglected areas. Entries include: social, economic and political forces that have influenced racing controversial historical and current issues legal and illegal gambling, and racing finance the British impact on world horseracing history and heritage of horseracing links between horse racing and the arts, media and technology human and equine biographies venues associated with racing horseracing websites The Encyclopedia of British Horse Racing provides a unique source of information and will be of great interest to sports historians as well as all those whose work or leisure brings them into the world of racing.

"From ancient beginnings to modern institutions and innovations, from prestigious races to famous faces, discover the stories and fact behind today's multi-billion-dollar racing industry."--Publisher's description

The Complete Encyclopedia of Horse Racing is an authoritative and comprehensive illustrated work of reference on one of the world's most popular sports. The book tells the story of horse racing from its earliest beginnings to the present day. It provides essential information on all the top jockeys, owners, trainers and horses. Written by acknowledged authorities on the racing scene in the United States, UK, and Australia, and updated to the end of the 2005?06 winter season, this is the definitive work, with every page a visually exciting and information-packed celebration of the sport.

The historical horse is at once material and abstract, as is the notion of the border. Borders and frontiers are not only markers delineating geographical spaces but also mental constructs: there are borders between order and disorder, between what is permitted and what is prohibited. Boundaries and liminal spaces also exist in the material, economic, political, moral, legal and religious spheres. In this volume, the contributing authors explore the theme of the liminality of the horse in all of these historical arenas, asking how does one reconcile the very different roles played by the horse in human history?