When you first start going racing, you quickly realise there is a lot of jargon involved.
As you stand by the parade ring or the winner’s enclosure, you learn plenty of new words. But what do they all mean?
What is the “racecourse going”? What is a “handicap”? And when someone tells you a horse is a “banker”, what are they saying?
Here is our guide to some of the terms you might hear when you are going racing.
A
- Accumulator: Also known as an acca; a single bet involving several selections.
- All-weather: Racing on a horse race track with a synthetic surface.
- Allowance: Reduction in weight a horse carries, either because it is a mare, or the jockey is a less experienced rider.
- Ante-post: Bets placed more than two days before a race, with no refund if the horse doesn’t run.
B
- Banker: A supposed certainty.
- Blinkers: Headgear worn by some horses to help them to concentrate.
- Bookmaker: Person who will take your bet on a race at agreed odds displayed on their board.
- Bridle: The equipment on a horse’s head used by the jockey to control it.
- Brought down: When a horse is eliminated from a race because it is impeded by another (usually fallen) runner.
- Bumper: A jump race without jumps; a Flat race for inexperienced jumping horses, usually over two miles.
C
- Chase: Short for Steeplechase, a race over fences.
- Cheekpieces: Headgear worn by horses, usually made of sheepskin and designed to aid concentration.
- Classics: The five elite three-year-old Flat races.
- Colt: An ungelded male horse.
D
- Dam: A horse’s mother.
- Dead-heat: When two horses pass the finish line at exactly the same instant.
- Distance: Margin by which a horse wins, measured in lengths.
- Draw: The process by which horses in Flat races are allocated their position in the starting stalls.
E
- Each way: Betting on a horse either to win or finish in the places.
F
- Favourite: The horse with the shortest odds in the race.
- Filly: A female horse aged up to four, after which she becomes a Mare.
- Furlong: Measurement in which race distances are expressed. There are 220 yards in a furlong, and eight furlongs in a mile.
G
- Gate: Another word for the starting stalls in Flat races.
- Gelding: A horse who has been castrated.
- Going: The racecourse going is the firmness or otherwise of the underfoot conditions. Horse racing goings range from heavy to firm.
- Group races: The top level of Flat races, with the highest being Group 1.
H
- Handicap: A race in which the weight each runner carries is determined by its official rating, set by the handicapper.
J
- Judge: Official who sits above the finish line and declares the finishing order of the horses.
- Juvenile: A two-year-old horse.
L
- Length: The measurement of distance between horses at the finish. One length is from the end of a horse’s nose to the base of its tail.
M
- Maiden: A horse who has not won a race yet.
N
- National Hunt: Traditional name for jump racing.
- Nap: The best bet of the day.
- Nose: The shortest winning margin in a race.
- Novice: A horse that has not won a race before the current season.
O
- Odds: The numbers showing how likely it is that a horse will win.
- Off: The start of a race, as in “They’re off”.
- On the bridle: A horse that is going well, without the jockey having to encourage it along. As opposed to “off the bridle”.
- Open ditch: A fence with a ditch on the take-off side.
- Outsider: A horse with long odds, making it less likely to win.
P
- Parade ring: Also called the paddock, the area where the horses parade before a race.
- Photo finish: When the judge’s verdict on the first horse home can be decided only with the aid of a photograph.
- Pulled up: When a horse is taken out of a race because it is too far behind, or injured.
S
- Silks: The owner’s colours worn by the jockey.
- Sire: A horse’s father.
- Sprinter: A horse who runs in races of less than a mile.
- Stands side: The part of the course closest to the main enclosures.
- Starting stalls: Device that ensures a level start in Flat races.
- Stayer: A horse with the stamina to race over long distances.
- Stewards’ Enquiry: Inquest held by the race-day stewards to see if any actions during the race have affected the result.
T
- Thoroughbred: The breed of horse used for racing.
- Tongue tie: Strap used to tie down a horse’s tongue to assist its breathing.
- Trip: The distance over which a race is run.
- Tote: Pool betting option for single race bets as well as multi-race options.
V
- Visor: Headgear that, like blinkers, restricts a horse’s field of vision to help it to concentrate.
W
- Weighed in: Announcement made after each race once the jockeys have been weighed, making the result official.
Y
- Yard: A trainer’s base, also called a stable.
