Guide to Horse Racing Jargon

Horse racing has its own vocubulary. To help you decipher the difference between a Maiden and a Hand we have pulled together a quick summary of common horse racing terms.

Horses
Colt - young male horse, aged 4 years and under

Gelding - male horse that has been castrated

Stallion - male horse that has retired from racing and is mating mares

Filly - young female horse, aged 4 years and under

Mare - female horse aged 5 years and over

Juvenile - in flat racing these are two-year-old horses, in jump racing these are three or four year olds

Maiden - A horse that has not yet won a race

Novice - a jumping term: a novice hurdler is a horse that has not won a hurdle race before the current jump season, a novice chaser is a horse that has not won a steeplechase before the current jump season

Hands - unit of measurement for horse’s height, which is measured from the withers (top of the shoulder blades). One hand is equivalent to 4 inches, and most racehorses stand at around 16 hands high

‘On the bridle’ or ‘on the steel’ - a horse which is running well, with plenty of energy and the jockey has not asked it for maximum effort. When a horse is ‘off the bridle’ it usually means he or she is being ridden vigorously or pushed along by his or her jockey

Plate - racehorses wear special shoes for racing called racing plates. Losing a shoe is known as ‘spreading a plate’

Plater - a horse that usually runs in selling races (low grade)

Running free - describes a horse going too fast to allow it to settle, usually in the early stages of a race

Sire - father of a horse

Dam - mother of a horse

Races
Flat Racing - the flat season on turf officially begins at the Lincoln meeting at Doncaster in March and ends at the same course in November.

National Hunt - the generic term for jump racing. The season officially runs throughout the year, ending with the Betfred Gold Cup Celebration Meeting at Sandown Park. The most prestigious races take place during the winter, between October and April with the Cheltenham Festival in March staging a number of championship races

All Weather Racing - racing on the Flat on an artificial, sand-based, surface that takes place all year round

Furlong - unit of distance used in horseracing. It is an eighth of a mile, which is approximately 220yds or 200m

Trip - the distance of the race. Flat races are run over distances of five furlongs to two miles six furlongs. National Hunt races are generally run over distances of two miles to three and a half miles, with the longest race being the John Smith's Grand National - a marathon four and a half miles

Handicap - a type of race that punters love. Each horse is rated according to its form in previous races and assigned a weight compared to other horses in the race. The idea is to give better horses greater weight so that each horse has an equal chance of winning - ideally all horses would finish in a straight line. The BHB official handicappers are responsible for rating the horses, and the trick is to see where they may have underrated a horse, which would then be carrying a lower weight than it ought to and so have more chance of winning the race

Group 1, 2 and 3 and Listed races - these races are for the better class of Flat racehorses. Group 1 races are the most prestigious

Grade 1, 2 and 3 and Listed races - these are the National Hunt equivalent to Group races, with Grade 1 races being the most prestigious in jump racing

Bumper - a flat race over two miles for horses bred for National Hunt racing, to get them used to the pressures of racing but without obstacles

Classic - the five most prestigious races for three-year-old flat racehorses only, are called the Classics. These are Stan James 1,000 Guineas, Stan James 2,000 Guineas, both at Newmarket, Vodafone Oaks and Vodafone Derby at Epsom Downs and the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster.

Winning margin - the distance by which a race is won is usually measured in ‘lengths’ (rough equivalent to a horse’s length). Any margin larger than 30 lengths is called a ‘distance’ and distances shorter than a length can be ‘half a length’, a ‘neck’, a ‘head’, a ‘short head’ and a ‘nose’

Walkover - a ‘race’ with only one runner

Racecourse
Going - the state of the ground on the racetrack; descriptions on turf range from Heavy, through Soft, Good-to-soft, Good, Good-to-firm, Firm and Hard. On All Weather courses the going is either Fast, Slow or Standard

Parade Ring or The Paddock - where horses are paraded before racegoers for about 10 minutes before the race, and where jockeys will be given their instructions by the trainers and owners

Pre-parade ring - where the runners are saddled up

Betting ring or betting jungle - where all the on-course bookmakers have their pitches, and where most of the financial action is

Winner’s Enclosure - where the winning horse is welcomed after the race and where the winning connections (owner, trainer and jockey) are presented with the trophy

Colours or silks - jockeys wear coloured jerseys and hats to distinguish horses in a race. The colours and patterns of the silks correspond to the horse’s owner, each of which have registered their personal ‘colours’

Betting
Bookmaker - also called ‘layers’; licensed to take bets on horseracing

Betting Exchange - an internet site that enables punters to bet with each other. Punters can back a horse to win or lose

The Tote - the only company in Britain that is licensed to offer pool betting on racecourses. Bets on one race are placed into a pool and the fund is shared out among the winners, so you don’t know how much you will win until after the race. The Tote is present at every racecourse, and is one of the easiest ways to make a bet. The Tote also offers a range of bets such as Exacta, Scoop6, Jackpot and Placepot

Price - the odds which a bookmaker offers you to back a certain horse. 5-1 means that if your horse wins you get back £5 for every £1 bet, plus your stake back. For example, a £2 bet at 5-1 will win £10, plus the stake = £12

Win bet - when you back a horse to win the race

Place bet - this is where you back a horse for a place. The number of places that bookmakers will pay out on depends on the number of runners in the race: where there are under five runners only win bets can be placed; between five and seven runners bookmakers will pay out on just first and second places; between eight and sixteen runners they will pay up to third place and up to fourth place in handicaps of over sixteen runners. Place bets are usually settled at 1/5 or 1/4 of the advertised price. The Tote offer place only bets, but ordinary bookmakers offer it as part of an each-way bet

Each-way bet - when you back a horse to win, or be placed in a race. Essentially, this consists of two bets, one to win and one to be placed, e.g. a bet placed at £2 each-way will actually cost £4

Jackpot - a Tote bet, where you have to select the winner of each of six pre-selected races. The Scoop6 is the biggest jackpot pool and takes place every Saturday

Placepot - similar to the Jackpot, but each of the selections only have to be placed in the race

Evens - when the potential winnings are equal to the stake. For example, a £2 bet at evens will win £2, plus the stake = £4

Odds-on - when the potential winnings are smaller than the stake. 1-2 means that if your horse wins you get back £1 for every £2 bet, plus your stake. For example, a £2 bet at 1-2 will win £1 plus the stake = £3

Favourite or jolly - the horse in the race with the shortest odds, i.e. smallest return on investment

Starting Price (SP) - the odds at which most bets off the racecourse are settled, and represents the general price being offered in the betting ring on the racecourse at the start of a race

Monkey - £500

Pony - £25

People
Apprentice - a young jockey tied by contract to a licensed trainer while learning the business of flat race-riding

Conditional - the National Hunt equivalent to an apprentice

Allowance - the weight conceded by professional jockeys to apprentices or conditionals on account of the latter’s inexperience - can be 7lbs, 5lbs or 3lbs, depending on the number of wins the apprentice or conditional jockey has recorded. Apprentices and conditionals are also known as Claimers as they can ‘claim’ this allowance

Clerk of the course - official employed by the racecourse responsible for managing the raceday, and providing an adequate racing surface

Clerk of the scales - official employed by the Jockey Club to ensure all horses carry the correct weight for each race. Jockeys must weigh in and weigh out before and after each race

Judge - official employed by the Jockey Club to declare the finishing order of a race and the distances between runners

Stewards - amateur, unpaid officials attending the racecourse on behalf of the Jockey Club to ensure that the Rules of Racing are adhered to.

Stewards’ enquiry - stewards have the power to disqualify horses and alter the outcome of a race should they believe the rules of racing have been infringed - a klaxon is sounded after the race if they are to hold an enquiry, and the settling of bets is postponed until the enquiry is complete

Stewards’ secretaries - officials employed by the Jockey Club to advise stewards on implementing the Rules of Racing

Stipendiary stewards - full time employee who assists the stewards. He or she will question witnesses in stewards’ enquiries and leave the room during deliberations

Betting on Racing
We recommend Ladbrokes, Victor Chandlers, Paddy Power and Stan James for excellent racing betting coverage. For international horse racing consider Pinnacle