redboard

v. to speculate on the outcome of a horse race that has already finished. Subjects: English, Gambling, Horses, Sports & Recreation, Slang

Editorial Note: The garbled text in the 1954 citation is true to the original. Several lines seem to have been mis-ordered, so it should probably have read, “On thinking things over, or ‘red-boarding’ the race, On Your Own should have been played for several reasons.”

Comments? | Cites | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Citations: 1954 Joseph C. Nichols New York Times (June 20) “On Your Own, 10-1 Aqueduct Victor” p. 4: On thinking things over, or Own should have been played, for “red-boarding” the race, On Your several reasons. 1961 Joseph C. Nichols @ Saratoga Springs, New York New York Times (Aug. 22) “Craftiness, at $6.50, Captures Diana Handicap at Saratoga in Record Time” p. 33: There was a lot of “red-boarding” (i.e., post-race reasoning) as to why the horse should have been played. 1990 Andrew Beyer Washington Post (Apr. 10) “The Double Standard” p. E01: Red-boarding. Many horseplayers torment their brethren by second-guessing after the race has been run—a practice known as red-boarding because the red “Official” sign is already lit. 1997 Maria Belknap Horsewords: the Equine Dictionary (Nov.) p. 400: redboard…A racing term; one who claims to have selected the winning horse in a horse race, but who always does so following the race; a derogatory term. 2006 Seth Abrams The Handicapping Life (Washington, D.C.) (Nov. 17) “ Is it too early to begin my Derby Prep?”: But, enough redboarding. All in all, we learned a lot from this day about this year’s horses. Invasor’s speed and stamina were the best, and he was better than Bernandini on this day. 2007 Bill Feingold Schaeffer’s Research (Mar. 1) “History of the Ciena 3.75 percent Convertible”: Now, you say, “stop redboarding, Bill?” (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “redboarder” is a person who always sounds really smart explaining why a horse won a race, but never manages to have a bet on the winner). After all, when a stock goes down, the convertible is supposed to work out better than the stock, right?

Posted 2 Mar 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend