RACING JARGON BUSTER Do not be put off by the weird terms you may hear on the racetrack. Like any traveller in a strange country, the novice racegoer will soon pick up a smattering of the language, and then rapidly become fluent. The following might help those racegoers keen to enhance their language skills. ACCUMULATOR bet involving two or more selections in different races: winnings from one are placed on the next ALLOWANCE is the weight concession the horse is given to compensate for its rider’s inexperience ALL WEATHER RACING flat racing which takes place on an artificial surface AMATEUR (rider) on racecards, their names are prefixed by Mr, Mrs, Captain, etc., to indicate their amateur status APPRENTICE young jockey tied by annually renewed contract to a licensed trainer while he or she is learning the business of race-riding BACKWARD used of a horse which needs time to mature CLAIMER of a race: a claiming race; of a jockey: an apprentice COLT male, ungelded horse up to four years old COURSE SPECIALIST horse which tends to run well at a particular track DAM mother of a horse DISTANCE the length of a race: 5 furlongs is the minimum and the 4 1⁄2 miles of the Grand National the longest. Also, the margin by which a horse wins or is beaten by the horse in front: this ranges from a short head to ‘by a distance’ (more than 30 lengths); a ‘length’ is measured from the horse’s nose to the start of its tail DISTANCE an unmarked point 240 yards from the winning post (thus ‘below the distance’ means closer home than that point) DRAW for flat racing only, describes a horse’s position in the starting stalls, drawn randomly the day before EVENS or EVEN MONEY when your stake exactly equals your winnings - thus £5 at evens wins a further £5 FILLY female horse up to four years old FOAL horse of either sex from the time of its birth until 1 January the following year FURLONG 220 yards (one eighth of a mile) GELDING castrated horse GOING the description of conditions underfoot on the racecourse. Official Jockey Club going reports progress as follows: Heavy - soft - good to soft - good - good to firm firm - hard GREEN (of a horse) inexperienced HAND unit of four inches in which a horse’s height is measured, at the shoulder JOLLY betting parlance for the favourite in a race - the horse with the shortest odds
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