This book constitutes the first full volume dedicated to an academic analysis of horseracing in
British cinema. Through comprehensive contextual histories of film production and reception
together with detailed textual analysis this book explores the aesthetic and emotive power of
the enduringly popular horseracing genre its ideologically-inflected landscape and the ways in
which horse owners and riders bookmakers and punters have been represented on British screen.
The films discussed span from the 1890s to the present day and include silent shorts quota
quickies and big-budget biopics. A work of social and film history The British Horseracing
Film demonstrates how the so-called sport of kings functions as an accessible institutional
structure through which to explore cinematic discussions about the British nation-but also and
equally national approaches to British cinema.
