Horse racing glossary
68 horse racing terms in plain English, from across the board to yielding. Each term has its own link, so you can share or bookmark a single definition.
A
- Across the board
- Three bets in one: win, place and show on the same horse. A $2 across-the-board bet costs $6.
- Allowance race
- A race above claiming level where horses are not for sale. Entry conditions, such as number of past wins, set who can run.
- Also-eligible
- A horse entered in a race that can only start if another horse is scratched.
- Apprentice
- A newer jockey who is given a weight allowance, often shown in brackets in the program. Also called a bug rider.
B
- Backstretch
- The straight part of the track on the far side from the grandstand. Also the stable area.
- Blinkers
- A hood with eye cups that limits a horse's side vision to help it focus. Shown as “b” in programs.
- Box
- An exotic bet that covers every finishing order of the horses you choose, for a higher total cost.
- Breakage
- The small amount by which a track rounds payouts down, usually to the nearest 10 cents on a $2 bet.
- Bullet workout
- The fastest workout of the day at a given distance and track, often marked with a dot.
C
- Chalk
- The betting favourite. A “chalk” result means favourites won.
- Claiming race
- A race in which every horse can be bought for a set price, called the claiming price. It groups horses of similar value.
- Class
- The level of competition a horse runs at, from maiden claiming up to graded stakes.
- Colt
- A male horse aged four or younger that has not been gelded.
- Coupled entry
- Two or more horses with the same owner or trainer that run as one betting interest, such as 1 and 1A.
D
- Daily double
- A bet on the winners of two consecutive races.
- Dam
- A horse's mother.
- Dead heat
- Two or more horses finishing exactly level. Payouts are split according to track rules.
E
- Exacta
- A bet on the first two finishers in exact order.
F
- Favourite
- The horse with the lowest odds, meaning the most money has been bet on it to win.
- Field
- All the horses running in a race.
- Filly
- A female horse aged four or younger.
- Firm
- The driest, fastest condition for a turf course.
- Form
- A horse's recent record, usually read from its past performances.
- Freshness
- In StableBet, a label that says whether data is live, a snapshot at a stated time, or stale.
- Furlong
- One eighth of a mile, about 201 metres. Race distances are usually given in furlongs.
G
- Gelding
- A male horse that has been castrated.
- Going
- The condition of the racing surface, such as firm, good, yielding or soft on turf.
- Graded stakes
- The highest level of stakes races, ranked Grade 1, 2 or 3.
H
- Handicap
- A race in which horses carry different weights to even out their chances.
- Handicapping
- Studying the information about a race to judge each horse's chances.
I
- Implied probability
- The chance of winning suggested by odds. For odds A-B it is B divided by A plus B.
K
- Knowledge graph
- A map of things and how they are connected. In StableBet it links horses, trainers, jockeys, bloodlines and races.
L
- Lasix
- A common race-day medication in North America, shown as “L” in programs.
- Length
- A measure of the gap between horses, roughly the length of one horse, about 2.4 metres.
- Long shot
- A horse with high odds that the betting public thinks is unlikely to win.
M
- Maiden
- A horse that has never won a race. A maiden race is only for such horses.
- Mare
- A female horse aged five or older.
- Morning line
- The odds printed in the program before betting opens. A forecast, not the final odds.
O
- Odds-on
- Odds below even money, such as 1-2. You win less than you bet.
- Overlay
- A horse whose odds are higher than its true chance of winning would justify. Judging this requires your own estimate.
P
- Pace
- How fast the early part of a race is run, and which horses are likely to lead.
- Paper bet
- A bet that is recorded and settled against the real result without any money. All StableBet bets are paper bets.
- Pari-mutuel
- A betting system where all bets go into a shared pool. The track takes a percentage and the rest is shared among winners.
- Past performances
- A table of a horse's recent races, including times, speed figures, positions and odds. Often called PPs.
- Pick 4
- A bet on the winners of four consecutive races. Pick 3, 5 and 6 work the same way.
- Place
- A bet that pays if your horse finishes first or second.
- Post position
- The starting gate stall a horse starts from.
- Post time
- The scheduled start time of a race.
- Purse
- The total prize money for a race.
Q
- Quinella
- A bet on the first two finishers in either order.
R
- Route
- A race of a mile or longer.
S
- Scratch
- A horse withdrawn from a race after entries close. Bets on a scratched horse are usually refunded.
- Show
- A bet that pays if your horse finishes first, second or third.
- Silks
- The coloured jacket and cap worn by the jockey, registered to the owner.
- Sire
- A horse's father.
- Speed figure
- A number that rates how fast a horse ran, adjusted for track and distance. Higher is better.
- Sprint
- A race shorter than a mile, commonly five to seven furlongs.
- Stakes race
- A top-level race with a large purse, where owners often pay entry fees.
- Stale data
- In StableBet, data old enough that it may no longer be accurate, such as odds captured before a scratch.
- Superfecta
- A bet on the first four finishers in exact order.
- Synthetic surface
- An all-weather track made of sand, fibres and wax, such as Tapeta at Woodbine.
T
- Takeout
- The share of each betting pool the track keeps before paying winners.
- Tote board
- The display at the track showing live odds, pool sizes and results.
- Trifecta
- A bet on the first three finishers in exact order.
- Turf
- A grass racing surface.
W
- Win
- A bet that pays only if your horse finishes first.
- Workout
- A timed training run, listed in the program with date, distance and time.
Y
- Yielding
- A turf condition softer than good, often after rain.
New to racing? Start with how to read a horse racing program.