BAD LEGS
A more common condition among racehorses than the public generally realize.
To understand it and indeed to appreciate the whole process of racing,and training horses to race, it is necessary to think of the horses as equine athletes which indeed they are.
To continue the analogy, would Seb Coe have shone over 100m?
Would he have raced [...]
AGE:
All horses share the same birthday irrespective of the exact date of the foaling.
This is fixed to facilitate the framing of races according to age groups, and is 1 January each year in the northern hemisphere.
Until 1834, the fixed date was 1 May, in line with the end, more or less of the foaling season.
The [...]
HANDICAP
When horses in a race are allocated different weights to carry, in order that each horse has an "equal" theoretic chance of winning, it is called a "Handicap" race.
Similar to the animals in George Orwell's books, some horses are more "equal" than others. Horses vary slightly between races and their form on any given day [...]
GELDING
After being castrated a male or colt horse is said to have been "gelded". There are a variety of reasons behind this seemingly rather harsh practice.
By taking a horses mind off sex it becomes more amenable, and calm. A horse becomes less temperamental due to the shift in hormonal balance, which occurs with all neutered [...]
EACH WAY BET
The practice of staking equal amounts for a place and for a win is known as making an "Each Way Bet".
Bookmakers used to be reluctant to take each way bets from everyday punters except in the big events like the Grand National and the Derby, however this is not the case nowadays, with [...]
DEAD HEAT
When there is a photo finish and the judge still cannot determine the winner - this is said to be a "dead heat". Frequently before the days of photo finish, there would be mayhem when a dead heat was declared by a judge but everyone else could see there was an outright winner.
Often it [...]
CLASS A:
Flat race classifications are from Class A through to Class G. This determines the methodology for framing conditions races.
CLASSICS:
Reference to a horse race that has been around for a very long time. These races of longstanding tend to attract the best horses and have become regarded as the highest quality of racing. The classics [...]
CAME AGAIN
Used in the formbook, this phrase is used to indicate when a horse renews its effort after dropping back in a race.
CAMERA PATROL
Introduced officially 30th June, 1960 at Newmarket.
Originally, cameras just photographed the latter stages of a race from varying different angles, often head on. Later the coverage was extended to provide a complete [...]
Bookmakers
There are several subdivisions of bookmaker:
- Some operate spread betting services
- Some operate a telephone credit service or postal betting service
- Some operate betting shops off-course
- Some make a book on the racecourse
Bigger bookmakers will offer two or three of the above activities. At the racecourse bets are agreed with the [...]
Bad Legs:
Bad Legs are a very common condition amongst racehorses
To really get to grips with what is involved when training a horse in preparation to race, we should make a comparison with the process that is undergone when training human athletes.
For example, what might have happened if Seb Coe had tried to run in the [...]