Horse Racing Glossary

368 terms bettors actually run into — from the condition book to the tote board. North American Thoroughbred usage unless noted.

Race types and conditions 40

Added money: Money the track puts into a stakes purse on top of owners' nomination, entry, and starting fees.
Allowance: A non-claiming race for horses that have not yet met a condition, usually written as non-winners of a purse amount or of a set number of races other than maiden, claiming, or starter.
Allowance optional claiming (AOC / OC): An allowance race in which a horse may also be entered for a claiming tag. Entrants running for the tag can be claimed; pure allowance entrants cannot.
Also-eligible (AE): A horse drawn outside the body of the field who draws in only if a starter scratches before scratch time.
Arkansas-bred (ARB): A horse that qualifies under Arkansas breeding rules, eligible for restricted races and Arkansas-bred purse supplements.
Black type: Boldface type in a sales catalogue for a stakes winner; capitals for a stakes win, mixed or lowercase for stakes-placed. A pedigree-page status, not a figure.
Card: The full day's program of races.
Claiming race: Any starter may be bought (claimed) for the published price. The claim is lodged before the race and transfers after the start, subject to void-claim rules.
Classic: A historic stakes of the highest class, often a Triple Crown race or an age-restricted championship (Derby, Oaks, St. Leger).
Condition book: The racing secretary's publication of upcoming races, with eligibility, weights, distances, and purses.
Conditioned race: Eligibility set by age, sex, earnings, wins, or state-bred status rather than by a claiming price alone.
Derby: Traditionally a stakes for three-year-olds, colts and geldings, sometimes open to fillies. Not every Derby is a Grade 1.
Derby points: Points earned in designated prep races that decide the Kentucky Derby field. The points schedule changes; use the current Road to the Kentucky Derby list.
Entries / the draw: Horses are entered for a race, then drawn for post positions. Also-eligibles draw outside the body of the field.
Field / mutuel field: When entries exceed the tote’s betting slots, outsiders are coupled as one betting interest called the field.
First-time starter (FTS): A horse making the first start of its career.
Futurity: A stakes for two-year-olds, often funded by nominator payments made before the horses have raced.
Graded stakes: A stakes assigned Grade 1, 2, or 3 by a grading committee on the quality of recent fields. Grade 1 is the top North American level.
Handicap: Weights are assigned by the racing secretary so that, in theory, every horse has an equal chance. High weight means the secretary rates that horse best.
Invitational: A stakes or feature limited to horses invited by the track. Not every invited horse has to be a stakes winner.
Listed stakes: A black-type stakes below graded level. It still counts as black type on a catalogue page.
Maiden: A horse that has never won a race. A maiden race is restricted to horses with zero wins.
Maiden claiming (MCL): A maiden race in which every starter is eligible to be claimed.
Maiden special weight (MSW): A maiden race with no claiming price. Purse and class are higher than maiden claiming.
Match race: A two-horse race arranged by agreement, usually for a purse or a side bet.
Non-winners other than / lifetime (N1X, N2X, N2L): N1X or N2X means non-winners of one or two races other than maiden, claiming, starter, or state-bred. N2L or N3L means non-winners of two or three races lifetime, which counts the maiden win. Always read the exact condition.
Oaks: A stakes for three-year-old fillies.
Overnight handicap: A handicap written in the condition book rather than a nominated stakes. Weights are still assigned.
Overnight race: A race written on the condition book and drawn overnight, as opposed to a stakes closed days or weeks ahead.
Prep race: A race used to set a horse up for a bigger target. On the Road to the Kentucky Derby at Oaklawn, the Southwest, Rebel, and Arkansas Derby are the usual points preps. The points schedule, not the name alone, decides the series.
Purse: The prize money for a race, divided among the top finishers under that track's purse schedule.
Restricted race: Limited to state-breds, sales graduates, or another defined group. Not open company.
Stakes: A race in which owners usually post a fee (a stake) to nominate, enter, and start, and the track adds money. The highest class band, graded or not.
Starter allowance / starter handicap: Restricted to horses that have started for a stated claiming price. They are not claimable in that starter race unless the condition says so.
Starter optional claiming: Open to horses that have started for a stated claiming price, with an optional tag for others. Read the condition; the tag is not always on every horse.
State-bred: Foaled in a state under that state’s breeding rules. Eligible for restricted purses and often breeder awards.
Supplemental fee: A late fee that lets an owner enter a stakes horse that missed the nomination deadline.
Waiver claiming: A claiming race in which certain horses, usually ones returning from a layoff or not recently run for a tag, may be entered with the claim waived and cannot be claimed. Still used in some states; rules vary.
Walkover: Only one horse is declared to start. The horse must usually walk or gallop the course to be official and earn the purse.
Win and You're In: A race whose winner earns an automatic berth in a bigger event, such as a Breeders' Cup race. Fees and the berth rules are set by that event.

Distances, course, and track 33

About (abt): The race was run around one or more turns at a distance slightly different from the labeled pole, often because of a temporary rail or chute. Charted as abt 1 mile, for example.
Apron: The area between the grandstand and the outer rail, where fans stand trackside.
Backstretch: The straight on the far side of the oval, opposite the finish. Also the stable area behind the track.
Bare racing strip: Dirt with little or no cushion, often after a seal or a hard freeze. Times can be faster or horses can struggle to get hold of it.
Chute: A straight extension used so a race can start without an immediate turn, common for sprints and some route starts.
Clubhouse turn: The turn closest to the clubhouse, usually the first turn past the finish on a left-handed oval.
Cushion: The loose top layer of a dirt track. A deep cushion tires speed; a tight cushion favors it.
Dead rail: An inside path that is slower than the rest of the track that day. Horses on the rail lose ground they should have saved.
Dirt: The main non-turf surface. Fast means dry and at its best; off tracks are mud, slop, slow, or heavy.
Eighth pole: The pole one furlong (one-eighth of a mile) from the finish.
Far turn: The final turn into the homestretch.
Furlong: 220 yards, one-eighth of a mile, 201.168 meters. The basic unit of North American race distance.
Golden rail: An inside path that is faster than the rest of the track that day, favoring rail trips.
Homestretch / stretch: The straight from the top of the stretch to the finish wire.
Infield: The area inside the innermost racing surface.
Main track: The primary dirt oval, as opposed to turf or a training track.
Mile: Eight furlongs, 1,760 yards, 1,609 meters.
Off the turf: A grass race moved to the main track because of weather or unsafe turf.
Oval: The closed racing course. U.S. ovals are almost all left-handed (counterclockwise).
Paddock: The area where horses are saddled and viewed before the post parade.
Pole: A colored marker on the infield or rail giving the remaining distance. Quarter pole is two furlongs out; eighth pole is one furlong out.
Quarter: Two furlongs, a quarter-mile. Fractional times are often taken at each quarter pole.
Rail: The inside boundary. A temporary rail moved out from the hedge widens the course and adds distance, which is one reason a race may be labeled about.
Route: Broadly, a race of a mile or longer. Some books treat 7 furlongs as a sprint and a mile as the start of routes.
Sixteenth pole: Half a furlong from the finish, 110 yards out.
Sprint: A race shorter than a mile, commonly 5 to 7 furlongs.
Synthetic / all-weather: An engineered surface (Tapeta, Polytrack, and similar) meant to drain and race more uniformly than dirt.
Track bias: A day-to-day tendency of the surface to favor a running style or a part of the track: speed, closers, the rail, or outside paths. One race is not a bias.
Track record: The fastest official final time at a distance and surface at that track. A temporary rail or an about distance usually does not count as the record.
Training track (tr.t): A secondary track used for morning training. Works there are marked tr.t and are not the same as a main-track work.
Turf: The grass course, often inside the dirt oval, sometimes with its own chute.
Turf rail setting: How far the temporary turf rail is set out from the hedge, often 0, 12, or 24 feet. It protects the inside grass and changes the distance run.
Wire: The finish line. 'At the wire' means at the finish.

Surface conditions 16

Fast: Dry dirt at normal moisture. The standard surface label when the track is not off.
Firm (turf): Dry, true grass. The turf equivalent of fast.
Floated: A float or grader has smoothed and packed the surface, often to seal it.
Frozen: Dirt frozen hard. Racing is often canceled; if run, footing is unpredictable.
Good (dirt): Dirt between fast and off. Some moisture, not sealed slop.
Good (turf): Some give, still fair. Between firm and yielding.
Harrowed: The dirt has been worked with a harrow to loosen the cushion between races.
Heavy (dirt): Deep, tiring wet dirt. Final times slow; late runners sometimes helped.
Heavy (turf): Very soft, holding grass. Extreme test of stamina.
Muddy: Wet dirt with a soft, holding base. Often favors stalkers or closers, but bias is local.
Sealed: The track was floated and packed before rain so water sits on top instead of soaking in. Often produces a wet-fast, speed-favoring strip once racing starts.
Sloppy: Standing water over a still-firm base. Often faster than deep mud and kind to early speed.
Slow: Drying or holding dirt that produces slower times than fast.
Soft: Significant give. European charts use this more than U.S. charts.
Wet-fast (wf): An official dirt condition: wet on top but still producing fast times, often after the track was sealed.
Yielding: Softening grass. Times slow; stamina matters more.

The race itself 28

Also ran: A horse far back, not in the placing picture. Charts may stop listing individual margins after a point.
Bore in / bore out: The horse drifted left (in, on a left-handed track) or right (out) under pressure or on its own.
Boxed / boxed in: Hemmed in by horses on both sides and in front, with no clear path.
Broke: Left the gate. 'Broke well' or 'broke slowly.'
Checked: The rider had to take up sharply to avoid trouble.
Dead heat: Two or more horses finish in a dead heat for a placing. Purse and mutuels are split under the rules of that placing.
Distanced: Beaten so far the horse is outside normal margin reporting, historically beyond 30 lengths or so, or did not finish in the required standard. Usage varies by jurisdiction.
Dwelt: Was slow to leave or hesitated at the start.
Eased: The rider stopped asking the horse once it was hopelessly beaten or in distress. Not the same as pulled up.
Gate: The starting gate. Stalls are numbered from the rail out in North America.
Inquiry: The stewards review the race on their own, shown by blinking lights, before posting official.
Objection: A rider’s claim of foul against another horse. Lodged before the jockey weighs in after the race, or as the rules provide.
Official: The result is final. Mutuel payouts begin. An inquiry or objection holds the result until the stewards rule.
Photo finish: The placing is too close to call by eye and is decided from the photo-finish image. Time is still recorded to the timing system’s precision.
Placed: Finished second, or in the money. Also: the stewards placed a horse behind another after a disqualification.
Post parade: The horses walk in front of the stands from the paddock toward the gate.
Post position: The gate stall assigned at the draw. Post 1 is the rail on a standard U.S. card.
Post time: The scheduled start. Off time is when the gate actually opens.
Pulled up: The rider stopped the horse before the finish, usually for injury or hopeless distress.
Rank: Fighting the rider, not settling. A rank horse wastes energy early.
Refused: Would not leave the gate or would not race.
Saved ground: Raced near the rail and covered less distance than horses wide on the turns.
Scratched: Withdrawn before the start. A late scratch after betting opens triggers refunds on that horse and recalculated pools.
Shuffled: Lost position when the pace slowed or horses in front checked, forcing the rider to take up.
Steadied: A lighter taking-up than a check.
Stumbled: Missed a step leaving the gate or during the race.
Unseated: The rider came off but the horse did not fall.
Vanned off: Left the track in a horse ambulance. A sign of possible injury, not a diagnosis.

Running style and trip 29

Beaten favorite: The betting favorite last out that did not win. Often a better price next time; not automatically a bet.
Bounce: A flatter effort right after an unusually big one. The big race is the evidence; the bounce is the hypothesis.
Class drop / class rise: Moving down or up in competition, often by claiming price or race type. A drop into a claimer can get the horse claimed.
Closer: A horse that makes its run from off the pace, usually in the last quarter or three-eighths.
Covered up: Tucked behind horses, out of the wind, saving energy. A good trip for a stalker.
Early speed: The ability to be on or near the lead through the first quarter and half.
Evenly: Kept position without a serious rally or collapse.
Form cycle: The run of improving, peaking, and declining efforts. One figure does not make a cycle.
Gamely: Kept trying under pressure when headed or in a drive.
Hand ride: The rider won or finished without using the whip, urging with hands and reins only.
In hand: Under a hold, not yet asked for full speed.
Keen: Eager, pulling, wanting to go faster than the rider prefers.
Key race: A race that produced several next-out winners, which suggests the field was stronger than the class label.
Lone speed: The only real front-runner in the race, likely to control the lead if it breaks.
Need-the-lead: A horse that runs its race only when it is in front. Dangerous if the pace is empty; vulnerable in a duel.
Off the pace: Not on the lead; midfield or farther back early.
One-run: A closer with a single late move rather than tactical speed.
Pace duel: Two or more speed horses fighting for the lead. Often sets the race up for horses behind them, if they actually engage.
Pace presser / presser: Sits just off the leader and pressures that horse.
Pocket: A spot just behind the leader, often along the rail, with cover.
Rate: To relax a horse off a too-fast pace, then ask later.
Run style (E, E/P, P, S): Brisnet codes: Early, Early/Presser, Presser (stalker), and Sustained (closer). A label of past running style, not a guarantee of today's trip.
Second off the layoff: The second start back from a break. Many horses move forward here; some already fired their best shot first off.
Stalker: Sits a few lengths off the lead, in striking position, then moves.
Stretch out / cut back: Moving to a longer race, or back to a shorter one.
Surface switch: Changing from dirt to turf, turf to dirt, or onto or off a synthetic.
Trip: How the race was run for that horse: ground saved or lost, trouble, pace setup. A good figure with a bad trip is often more trustworthy than a pretty figure with a perfect trip.
Wide: Raced outside horses on the turns and covered extra ground. Three-wide around two turns is a meaningful loss.
Wire to wire: Led at every call and won.

Margins callers use 9

Beaten lengths: The total margin behind the winner, used to adjust a horse’s figure. A horse beaten 5 lengths gets a time adjustment of about 5 times the seconds-per-length at that distance.
Daylight: Visible space between the horse in front and the next horse. Not a precise margin.
Half-length (1/2): Half a horse length.
Head (hd): About the length of a horse’s head. Commonly treated as roughly 0.1 to 0.2 length.
Length (1): One horse length, nose to tail. See the timing section for feet and seconds.
Neck (nk): About the length of a neck, larger than a head and smaller than half a length. Often about 0.25 to 0.3 length.
Nose (ns / nse): The smallest official margin. The winner’s nose reached the wire first. Treated as a small fraction of a length, often about 0.05 length in figure work.
Open lengths: A clear margin, usually several lengths, with daylight between horses.
Three-quarters (3/4): Three-quarters of a length.

Time, pace, and figures 24

Beyer Speed Figure: The Daily Racing Form figure developed by Andrew Beyer. Scale is roughly centered so a strong older horse might run in the 90s to 100s; elite Grade 1 figures often reach the 110s.
Brisnet Speed Rating: Brisnet's speed figure, on its own scale. Do not treat a Brisnet 90 as a Beyer 90.
Bullet work: The fastest workout at that distance on the tab that morning, marked with a bold dot or similar in past performances.
Clocker: A person who times workouts. Private clockers sometimes catch works the track tab misses.
Dogs up (d): Cones or a rail set out from the inner course during workouts so horses stay off the racing strip. Times with dogs up are slower than a clear work over the same ground.
E1 / E2 / Late Pace: Brisnet pace figures for the first call, the second call, and the finish. Useful for who can actually make the lead.
Final time: The winner’s time from the start to the finish wire. Losers do not get their own official time; their time is estimated from beaten lengths.
Fractional time: The leader’s time at a point of call (quarter, half, three-quarters, mile). Fractions describe the pace, not each horse’s private clock.
Gap in works: A missing stretch of timed workouts. It can mean a training interruption; it can also mean the work was not on the tab.
Gate work (g): A workout that started from the starting gate. Marked g in the work line.
Internal fraction: The time for a segment between calls, such as the third quarter. A fast internal fraction means the pace was still honest late.
Layoff: Time between races. A short layoff is days or a few weeks; a long layoff is often 90 days or more and may require a published work.
Length-per-point: Figure makers convert beaten lengths into points. The conversion changes with distance because a length is a smaller share of a sprint than of a route.
Pace: How fast the early and middle calls were run. A hot pace can set the race up for closers; a soft pace can help the leader.
Pace figure: A figure for the early call or the late call, separate from the final-time figure. Used to see who can actually carry the pace.
Par: The expected final time, or expected speed figure, for a class at a distance on a normal track.
Point of call: A standardized place the chart records position and margin: start, quarter, half, and so on, through the stretch and finish.
Sheets: Ragozin and Thoro-Graph performance figures. On those sheets a lower number is better, the opposite of Beyer.
Shipper: A horse racing at a track other than its home track.
Speed figure: A number that turns final time, variant, and sometimes beaten lengths into a class-free rating. Higher is faster. Beyer, Brisnet, TimeformUS, and Equibase Speed Figure are different scales.
Split: Same idea as an internal fraction: the time for one piece of the race.
Track variant: A daily adjustment for whether the surface was faster or slower than normal. Figure makers add or subtract it so times from different days compare.
Work / breeze: A timed morning exercise. Comments include breezing (b), handily (h), and driving (d). Gate works are noted.
Workout rank (3/42): The work was third fastest of 42 at that distance on that tab. Rank without the distance and the dogs-up note is incomplete.

Equipment and medication notes 24

Bar shoes: A shoe with a closed bar, used for support. A sign the foot may be under management, not a speed clue by itself.
Bit: The mouthpiece. A ring bit, snaffle, or more severe bit is a rider control choice; changes sometimes show up in equipment notes.
Bleeder: A horse that bled from the lungs (epistaxis, blood at the nostril, or scoped blood). Repeat bleeders can be restricted.
Blinkers (b): A hood with cups that limit side and rear vision. On or off is an equipment change worth noting.
Bowed tendon: An injury to the superficial digital flexor tendon, behind the cannon bone. Often means a long layoff.
Bucked shins: Sore inflammation on the front of the cannon bone, common in young horses in training.
Bute: Phenylbutazone, an NSAID. Race-day use is regulated and often prohibited above a threshold.
Caulks / stickers / mud nails: Shoeing inserts or nails that improve grip on wet or sealed dirt.
Cheekpieces: More common in Europe. Sheepskin on the cheeks of the bridle to help focus.
Earplugs: Used to dull gate and crowd noise. Sometimes pulled after the start.
Figure-eight: A noseband crossed in a figure-eight, used to keep the mouth closed and the bit quieter.
First-time gelding: A horse racing for the first time after being gelded. Sometimes a form angle; not a rule.
Front wraps / bandages: Leg bandages. Rundown bandages protect the fetlock when a horse runs down behind.
Hand: The unit of horse height. One hand is 4 inches, measured at the withers.
Lasix / furosemide: A diuretic used to reduce exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. Medication rules for Thoroughbreds are now set nationally by HISA. Always read the current rule before treating a Lasix line as an angle.
Lead pony / pony person: The horse and rider who escort a racehorse to the gate and may stay with it during the warmup.
Nasal strip: An adhesive strip over the nose intended to keep nasal passages open. Effect on performance is debated.
Quarter crack: A vertical crack in the side wall of the hoof. Shoeing can manage it; it is still a soundness note.
Shadow roll: A sheepskin or fleece roll across the noseband that blocks the horse’s view of shadows on the ground.
Splint: A bony enlargement on the splint bone, usually inside the cannon. Many are cosmetic once set; a fresh one can stop training.
Toe grabs: Raised ridges on the front of a horseshoe for traction. Height on front shoes is limited under HISA safety rules.
Tongue tie: A band tying the tongue so it cannot get over the bit. Charted when used.
Vet’s list: A list of horses barred from entry until they work or pass an exam, often after illness, injury, or bleeding.
Visor: Blinkers with a cut in the cup so the horse can see some of what is beside it.

People and barn 22

Apprentice / bug boy: A rider with a weight allowance (the bug) while learning. The allowance shrinks as wins accumulate, often 10, 7, then 5 pounds, then none.
Assistant trainer: Runs the barn, or a string of it, when the trainer is at another track.
Barn / stable: A trainer's operation and the horses in it. A hot barn is one winning at a high rate right now.
Bloodstock agent: Buys and sells horses for clients, at auction or privately.
Breeder: The owner of the dam at the time the foal is born, under North American rules. Not necessarily the person who planned the mating.
Clerk of scales: Weighs riders out and back in, with the required gear, to enforce assigned weight.
Connections: The owner, trainer, and jockey of a horse, taken together.
Exercise rider: Rides horses in the morning, including timed works.
Groom: Cares for the horse daily: stall, feeding, bathing, tacking up.
Hotwalker: Walks horses to cool them out after a work or a race.
Jockey: The race rider. Weight includes the rider, saddle, and lead pads, subject to a minimum.
Jockey agent: Books mounts for a rider.
Outrider: Mounted track staff who lead the post parade and catch loose horses.
Owner: The person or partnership that enters the horse. Silks identify the owner.
Paddock judge: Supervises saddling and the identification of each starter.
Patrol judge: Watches a section of the race, often with video, and reports interference to the stewards.
Placing judge: With the photo, decides the order of finish.
Racing secretary: Writes the condition book, assigns handicap weights, and manages stalls.
Starter: The official who loads the gate and releases the field. A bad break can be a starter’s decision, not only a horse fault.
Steward: The racing official who supervises the meeting, hears objections, and can disqualify, fine, or suspend.
Trainer: Conditions the horse, enters it, and is responsible for medication and equipment rules.
Valet: Handles the jockey’s saddle and gear between races.

Weight and claiming 13

Assigned weight: The weight the horse must carry, from the conditions or the handicap.
Bug / apprentice allowance: Pounds taken off for an apprentice rider. A 5-pound bug on 122 means the horse carries 117 if the conditions allow it.
Claim: A bid to buy a horse out of a claiming race for the stated price. It is irrevocable once the race starts, with void-claim exceptions.
Claiming price / tag: The price at which the horse can be claimed. A higher tag usually means a tougher race.
High weight: The top weight in a handicap. A sign the secretary considers that horse the one to beat.
Impost: The weight carried.
In foal: A mare confirmed pregnant. Relevant to claims and void-claim rules if the condition was not disclosed as required.
Lead pad: Lead weights in the saddle pad used to make the assigned impost.
Overweight: The rider cannot make the weight. It must be declared, usually above a small allowance, and is printed on the program.
Scale of weights: The rulebook table of standard weights by age, sex, and month. Condition books modify it.
Shake / claim shake: Informal: the draw when more than one claim is lodged on the same horse. One claim is chosen by lot.
Void claim: The claim is undone, usually if the horse dies, is vanned off, or tests positive under the void-claim rule in force. Rules differ by state.
Weight-for-age: Weights set by the scale rather than by a handicapper, so older horses give weight to younger ones at set times of year.

Betting and the tote 54

Across the board: A win, place, and show bet of equal amount on one horse.
Action: Money in the pool. 'We need action' means the pool is thin.
ADW (advance deposit wagering): Betting through a funded online or app account rather than a mutuel window.
ALL: Using every horse in a race in one position or leg of an exotic.
Base bet: The amount per combination, such as a 50-cent trifecta or a $1 exacta. The ticket cost is base times the number of combinations.
Box: An exotic that covers every order of the horses selected. A three-horse exacta box is six combinations.
Breakage: The cents the pool rounds down, often to the dime, before payout. The track or the state keeps it under local rules.
Bridgejumper: A large bet on a short-priced horse, usually in the show pool, meant to collect a small near-certain return. The term is informal.
Carryover: Jackpot or multi-race pool money with no qualifying winner, added to a later pool.
Chalk: The favorite, from the days odds were written in chalk.
Cold: A bet with no backup, such as a straight exacta on one combination, or a single horse used alone in a leg.
Consolation: A smaller payout in some horizontal pools when a ticket misses a leg, or when a late scratch removes a live horse.
Coupled entry: Two or more horses with common ownership bet as one interest. Most U.S. tracks no longer couple horses only because they share a trainer.
Daily double: Pick the winners of two consecutive races.
Drift: Odds lengthen as post time nears. The opposite of steam.
Even money: 1-1. A $2 win bet returns about $4 including stake, before breakage.
Exacta (perfecta): Pick the first two finishers in exact order.
Exotic: Any bet other than win, place, or show.
Favorite: The horse with the lowest odds at the close of betting.
Horizontal wager: A multi-race bet: double, Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6.
Key: A horse used in every combination of an exotic ticket.
Late money: Bets placed in the last minutes before post. It moves the odds you actually get.
Minimum payout: The lowest return state rules allow on a winning ticket, often $2.10 for a $2 bet.
Minus pool: Too much money is on one horse to pay the legal minimum, so the track adds money. Most common in the show pool.
Morning line: The oddsmaker’s forecast of final odds. It is not a bet and it does not move with the money.
Mutuel / pari-mutuel: Bettors bet into a pool against each other. The track takes a commission (the takeout) and pays the rest to winning tickets.
Nickel breakage: Payouts rounded down to the nickel instead of the dime. The rule is local.
Odds-on: Shorter than even money, such as 4-5 or 1-2.
Overlay: A horse whose odds are longer than your assessed fair odds. The usual value bet.
Parlay: Winnings from one bet rolled onto the next. Not the same as a Pick 3, which is a single pool.
Part-wheel: A wheel that leaves some horses out of one or more legs.
Pick 3 / 4 / 5 / 6: Pick consecutive winners across that many races. In jackpot-style pools, part or all of the pool carries over when nobody has a perfect ticket, or when no single unique ticket hits.
Place: A bet that wins if the horse finishes first or second. Payouts come from the place pool, not from half the win odds.
Pool: The total bet on a wager type. Win, place, show, and each exotic have separate pools.
Post-time odds: The odds when betting closes. Those odds, not the morning line, set the win payout.
Quinella: First two in either order. Less common than the exacta in the U.S.
Saver: A smaller side bet that protects a larger ticket, such as a win saver under an exotic.
Show: Pays if the horse finishes first, second, or third.
Simulcast: A live race from another track, bet into that track's pools or a merged pool.
Single: One horse used alone in a leg of a horizontal bet.
Spread: Several horses used in a leg of a horizontal bet.
Steam: Odds shorten quickly on late money.
Straight bet: A win, place, or show bet. Not an exotic.
Super high five: First five in exact order. Often a jackpot pool with a carryover.
Superfecta: First four in exact order.
Takeout: The percentage removed from the pool before payout. Exotics usually have a higher takeout than win bets.
Tote: The totalizator system that records bets and displays odds.
Trifecta: First three in exact order.
Underlay: A horse shorter than your fair odds. Common with overbet favorites.
Vertical wager: A bet inside one race: exacta, trifecta, superfecta.
Voucher: A slip for cash left on account at the window or a self-service machine. Tickets and vouchers can expire under house rules.
Wheel: One or more horses used with all (or many) horses in the other legs or slots.
Win: The horse must finish first. The most direct market of the public’s opinion.
WPS: Win, place, and show.

Past performances and catalogue 17

Best of last three: A common speed-figure summary. Useful, but it hides trips and surface switches.
Chart (result chart): The official report of a race: positions at each call, margins, times, odds, payouts, and comments.
Company line: The first three finishers listed for each race in a past performance, used to judge the quality of the field the horse kept.
Daily Racing Form (DRF): The longtime racing paper and data service. Home of the Beyer Speed Figure and the Tomlinson ratings.
Equibase: The official database of North American Thoroughbred charts, results, and entries.
Equipment change: Blinkers on or off, Lasix change where still relevant, or a similar switch. Printed because it can change performance.
First-time Lasix / first-time blinkers: A medication or equipment change used for the first time. A common angle, and a common overbet.
In the money: Finished first, second, or third.
Lifetime record: Starts, wins, seconds, thirds, and earnings. Read it with class, not as a win percentage alone.
Main-track only (MTO): Entered in a turf race but the owner will run only if the race is taken off the turf.
Past performance (PP): The line-by-line racing record used to handicap.
Prime Power: A Brisnet composite rating mixing speed, pace, class, and form. A ranking tool, not a speed figure.
Program: The track's race-day guide: entries, posts, morning line, jockeys, weights, and equipment.
Stakes placed: Finished second or third in a stakes. Lowercase or mixed black type on a catalogue page.
Tomlinson: A Daily Racing Form rating aimed at wet-dirt or turf suitability, built mostly from pedigree. A hint, not a trip note. Not a Brisnet figure.
Trouble line / comment: The short chart note on the trip, such as 4-wide on the turn or steadied early.
Turf only: Will not run if the race comes off the grass.

Breeding and age 23

Broodmare: A mare used for breeding.
Broodmare sire: The sire of the dam. A strong broodmare sire is valued in catalogues.
By / out of: A horse is by its sire and out of its dam.
Coat color: Common catalog colors are bay, chestnut, dark bay or brown, black, gray or roan, and white. Color is identification, not a speed figure.
Colt: An uncastrated male horse four or younger.
Dam: The horse’s mother.
Dosage: A pedigree index weighting speed versus stamina influences. Once heavily used for the Kentucky Derby; now a secondary note.
Filly: A female horse four or younger.
First-crop sire: A stallion whose first foals are just reaching the races. The sample is small.
Foal: A horse in its birth year. Age advances on January 1 in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 in much of the Southern Hemisphere.
Gelding: A castrated male. Cannot be retired to stud.
Half-sibling / full sibling: A half-sibling shares one parent. In catalogues it usually means the same dam and a different sire. A full sibling shares both.
Horse: In conditions, often a male five or older. In ordinary speech, any racehorse.
Juvenile: A two-year-old.
Mare: A female five or older.
Nick: A sire-and-broodmare-sire cross believed to work well. Statistical, not magic.
Ridgling: A male with an undescended testicle. Often runs as a ridgling rather than a colt or horse.
Sire: The horse’s father.
Sophomore: A three-year-old.
Stallion: An uncastrated male standing at stud, or used for breeding.
Stud fee: The price to breed a mare to a stallion for that season. Not the same as the foal's later sale price.
Weanling: A foal separated from the mare, still in its birth year.
Yearling: A horse in the calendar year after its birth year.

Sales and ownership 6

Breeze show / under tack: A short timed workout at speed, usually an eighth or a quarter mile, before a two-year-old sale. Buyers use the breeze and the video, not the time alone.
Hammer price: The auctioneer’s final bid, before the buyer’s premium where one applies.
Partnership / syndicate: Shared ownership. One managing partner usually has entry authority.
Pinhook: Buy a young horse and resell it later, often after a breeze show, for a profit.
RNA: Reserve not attained. The horse did not meet its reserve and was not sold.
Silks: The owner’s jacket and cap colors worn by the jockey.

Stewards, lists, and rules of racing 9

Disqualification (DQ): The stewards change the order of finish for interference or a rule breach. Betting payouts follow the official order after the DQ.
HISA: The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the federal body that sets national safety and medication rules for covered Thoroughbred races.
HIWU: The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, which runs testing and enforcement under HISA.
Interference: A horse impedes another by bumping, herding, or crossing. The foul is against the horse, carried out by the rider.
Positive test: A post-race or out-of-competition sample above the allowed threshold. Can lead to disqualification from the purse, fines, and suspensions. Betting payouts usually stand if the race was already official.
Purse redistribution: When a horse is disqualified after the race is official, usually for a positive test, its purse share goes to the other finishers. Betting payouts are not changed.
Schooling: Gate or paddock practice required before a horse may start again.
Starter’s list: Horses barred for gate behavior until they school and are approved.
Stewards’ list: Horses or people barred until the stewards remove them.

Other racing breeds, briefly 5

Arabian: A separate breed registry with its own stakes and condition books.
Quarter Horse: Sprint breed, often 220 to 870 yards. Times are usually in hundredths. Age and condition books differ from Thoroughbred racing.
Standardbred: Harness breed, trot or pace, pulling a sulky. A break into the wrong gait can cost position. Times are often in fifths.
Steeplechase / jump: Racing over fences or hurdles. Terms include brush, timber, National Fence, and weight-for-age jumping conditions.
Thoroughbred: The breed of flat racing in North America and of most of this glossary. Stud book is closed.

Chart and announcer shorthand 16

b: Blinkers.
bg / b g: Bay gelding, in older charts. Coat-color codes vary by supplier.
DK / dkb: Dark bay or brown.
empty: Stopped progressing in the drive.
f: Front wraps, in some equipment keys.
g: Worked from the starting gate. Not the same as a plain breeze.
gr/ro: Gray or roan.
green: Inexperienced. Looked around, wandered, or did not switch leads cleanly.
held on: Lasted to win after being challenged.
just missed: Finished a nose or head short.
much the best: Won clearly, with something left.
nailed: Caught at the wire.
no rally: Did not close when asked, or had nothing left.
off slowly: Missed the break.
ro: Roan.
switch leads: Changed the leading foreleg. Horses should lead with the inside leg on a turn and switch in the stretch.

No terms match. Try a shorter word.

Know the words. Now get the picks.Get The Nerd Watch, our free nightly Oaklawn recap, by email — sign up below.