Okay, so I was messing around online today, trying to figure out some horse racing terms ’cause, you know, the Kentucky Derby is coming up and I wanna sound like I know what I’m talking about. And let me tell you, it’s like a whole different language! I started by just Googling “horse race slang.”
I scrolled through a bunch of websites, and honestly, a lot of it was pretty confusing. Some sites were just lists of words, with no explanation, and others were like, super technical. I’m not trying to become a jockey, I just wanna understand what the commentators are saying!
So, I decided to make my own little cheat sheet. I grabbed a notebook and started jotting down the terms that seemed most common. I focused on ones that I thought I might actually hear during a race, and I tried to put the definitions in my own words.
My Horse Racing Slang Cheat Sheet
- Across the board: This means betting on a horse to win, place, and show. So, like, you’re covering all your bases.
- At the wire: This just simply means the finish line.
- Blinkers: Apparently, these are like little cups that go on the horse’s head to help them focus. Who knew?
- Chalk horse: It’s a favorite horse to win.
- Closer: This is a horse that’s good at finishing strong, even if they start slow.
- Furlong: Okay, this one is weird. It’s a unit of measurement, like an eighth of a mile. Why can’t they just say “eighth of a mile”?
- Handicap: The is a race that horses have carry different weights to even up the field.
- In the money: This means your horse finished first, second, or third. Basically, you won something!
- Morning line: These are the odds that are set before people start betting.
- Overlay: This is when a horse’s odds are higher than you think they should be. Like, maybe it’s a good deal to bet on them.
- Pace: How fast a horse race runs in the early stages.
- Post time: This is just the scheduled start time of the race.
- Scratch: To take a horse out of a race.
- Show: A bet that your horse to finish in third place.
- Under wraps: This means a horse is running easily, without being pushed too hard.
It is not perfect, and I’m sure I missed some, but it’s a start. I copied these into my phone, and I’m gonna keep adding to it as I learn more. Hopefully, next time I watch a race, I won’t be totally lost!
