Stable Views: Stories and Voices from the Thoroughbred Racetrack (Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World Series)

McHale, Ellen E.

ISBN 10: 149680368X / ISBN 13: 9781496803689

Published by University Press of Mississippi, 2015

About this Item

A moving revelation of the many essential workers and their lives on the backside of thoroughbred racetracks Series: Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World Series. Num Pages: 160 pages, 45 color photographs. BIC Classification: JFHF; WSNB. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 203 x 203 x 15. Weight in Grams: 590. . 2015. Hardcover. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9781496803689

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Stable Views: Stories and Voices from the Thoroughbred Racetrack (Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World Series)
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 149680368X
• ISBN 13: 9781496803689
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Stable Views offers an inside look at the thoroughbred racing industry through the words and perspectives of those who labor within its stables. In more than fourteen years of field research, Ellen E. McHale has traveled throughout the Eastern Seaboard, Kentucky, and Louisiana to gather oral narratives from those most intimately involved with racing: the stable workers, exercise riders, and horse trainers who form the backbone of the industry. She interviewed workers at Saratoga, Belmont, Tampa Bay Downs, Keeneland, the Evangeline Training Center in Louisiana, and the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida.

Workers within all sectors of the thoroughbred world have long histories of involvement in the racing industry, with many individuals shifting occupational roles throughout their lifetimes. The thoroughbred racetrack operates as a multicultural workplace that relies upon apprenticeship and mentoring. Many workers speak to the history, the joys, the hardships, and the miracles of horse racing along with the changes that they have experienced through their long careers. Included in the book are discussions about luck, the occupational language of the racetrack, race and gender, and recent changes in the industry, all in the words and voices of the stable workers.

About the Author

Ellen E. McHale, Esperance, New York, is a folklorist and the executive director of the New York Folklore Society. A native New Yorker, her work as a folklorist has included documentary projects and field research throughout the upstate New York region. She is also the coeditor of New York State Folklife Reader: Diverse Voices from University Press of Mississippi.