Horses Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Citations in the Category Horses

Colts, yearlings, horse racing, horse trainers, horse breeding, jockeys, race tracks, Kentucky Derby, Triple Crown, Belmont Stakes, betting, gambling, etc. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

(1/9 pages) 1 2 3 > Last »

Arab strap n. I bought another Belle and Sebastien album, The Boy with the Arab Strap. According to the liner notes, an “Arab Strap” is a slang term for a device used to get reluctant horses to mate, now thats Final Jeopardy shit right there!! [English Horses] [full cite] (Feb. 17, 2005)

barn sour adj. This “balking” behavior that you see in your mare as you try to ride her away from her herdmates in the field is often called “herd bound” or “barn sour.” [English Horses] [full cite] (Aug. 5, 2006)

big lick n. But he also served during a period of controversy, as horse inspectors clamped down in recent years on the mistreatment of horses through a practice known as soring. In some cases, trainers used chemicals or hoof devices to make their horses raise their forelegs high er, creating the “big lick” gait for which the breed is known. [English Horses Jargon] [full cite] (Nov. 29, 2007)

breakage n. Breakage is even more insidious. Breakage is the downward rounding of the odds on the tote board, and consequently the amount paid on winning bets. A horse who may be 5.8-1 will be rounded down to 5-1, a significant reduction. There is no way to tell ahead of time how breakage will affect your bet, but it is more pronounced for favorites than longshots and over time will take another percent or so from your winning bets. [English Gambling Horses] [full cite] (May. 5, 2007)

bug n. At the end of July, Wilson will lose her five-pound weight allowance, a huge aid for apprentice jocks learning the trade. Most see a downturn in business when they lose the “bug,” as the allowance is called. [English Horses Sports & Recreation] [full cite] (Apr. 7, 2006)

bug n. Rode five winners on a December 1981 afternoon at New York’s Aqueduct as an apprentice, something not even “The Kid,"” Steve Cauthen—famous and fresh off his Triple Crown triumph aboard Affirmed three years earlier—had managed to accomplish as a “bug,"” the term for inexperienced riders because of the insect-like asterisk next to their names on track programs. [English Horses Sports & Recreation] [full cite] (Sep. 2, 2007)

bug boy n. Around the racetrack, they are called “bug boys,” but not for their love of insects. These jockeys get their names because the Daily Racing Form used to print a “bug”—or asterisk—next to the weight assignments of apprentices. The more asterisks, the less experience and winners an apprentice had. They are the rookies of thoroughbred horse racing. [English Horses Sports & Recreation] [full cite] (Jul. 18, 2006)

bullet n. The man said he used a “bullet"—horse racing parlance for using only one horse in a race—on one horse, Jewel of the Year, in the fourth leg. [English Gambling Horses Sports & Recreation] [full cite] (May. 21, 2004)

bumper n. Collier Hill’s first start was in a National Hunt Flat race—more commonly known as a “bumper"—designed for horses deemed too slow to win on the Flat en route to a career over jumps. [English Horses Sports & Recreation Jargon] [full cite] (Dec. 8, 2006)

chalk n. Chalk: Years ago—before computers, if you can imagine—bets were recorded on a large chalkboard. The favorites would get the most checks and thus the most chalk, making picking the chalk the term for picking the favorite. This, however, is nothing to be proud of. No one brags about picking the winner when the chalk comes home—which happens about a third of the time. [English Gambling Horses] [full cite] (Aug. 5, 2006)

(1/9 pages) 1 2 3 > Last »