Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, and gender discrimination.

One of the major inciting incidents in Off to the Races takes place when Vaughn sees a beautiful woman arrive at his ranch, and instead of guessing that she is the experienced horse trainer he is scheduled to interview, he automatically assumes that she has been sent by his matchmaking mother to lure him back to his life in the city. Although Vaughn quickly realizes his mistake and makes amends, this incident highlights the pervasive sexist attitudes that women often face when working in largely male-dominated fields. As Silver’s narrative soon establishes, Billie is intimately familiar with this issue and encounters it several times over the course of the novel. She must therefore respond with a strategic blend of assertiveness and professionalism to counter these incidents. Prime examples range from Vaughn’s vague surprise at her arrival to the hostile Patrick’s choice to ignore her instructions and mistreat DD. In the latter case, the text implies that the jockey holds the sexist belief that Billie’s gender makes her too lenient with horses. In each case, Billie selects a colorful response that leaves her opponent in no doubt as to her competence and strength of will.

The novel presents these obstacles as real challenges but does not dwell on them at length. Though Billie recalls a history of being dismissed because of her gender, none of the workers at Gold Rush Ranch use sexist ideology to dismiss her expertise. Instead, this issue exists primarily in the world beyond the ranch’s borders, leaving it a hypothetical that informs characters’ decisions but does not ultimately harm Billie’s work at the ranch. For example, Billie fears that her reputation will suffer if she is known to be romantically involved with her boss, but this does not ultimately come to pass. By contrast, Vaughn takes the problem, and Billie herself, very seriously, and the text treats this as the most important narrative element. When Vaughn recognizes that Billie’s career may be harmed by their relationship, he is willing to pull back, and it is clear that he cares about her career.

The novel does not suggest that there is an easy solution to the issues that women face in male-dominated fields, but Silver does use her strong-willed female characters to suggest that when women work together, they can help each other diminish the impact of these challenges. When Billie begins to work with Violet, a young female groom who later becomes a jockey, the two women build a successful working relationship and a mutual friendship, supporting each other in ways that advance their careers and personal lives alike.