Mike Huggins 
Flat Racing and British Society, 1790-1914 [EPUB ebook] 
A Social and Economic History

2001 North American Society for Sports History Book of the Year This volume studies the formative period of racing between 1790 and 1914. This was a time when, despite the opposition of a respectable minority, attendance at horse races, betting on horses, or reading about racing increasingly became central leisure activities of much of British society.