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Hand - Four inches. A horse's height is measured
in hands and inches from the top of the shoulder (withers) to the
ground, e.g., 15.2 hands is 15 hands, 2 inches. Thoroughbreds
typically range from 15 to 17 hands.
- Handicap - 1) Race for which the track
handicapper assigns the weights to be carried. Each horse is allocated
a different weight to carry, the theory being all horses then run on a
fair and equal basis.. 2) To make selections on the basis of past
performances.
- Handicapper - The official who decides the
weights to be carried in handicap events, and the grading of horses
and greyhounds.
- Hand Ride - The jockey urges a horse with the
hands and arms without using the whip.
- Hard (track) - A condition of a turf course where
there is no resiliency to the surface.
- Head - A margin between horses. One horse leading
another by the length of its head.
- Head Of The Stretch - Beginning of the straight
run to the finish line.
- Heavy (track) - Wettest possible condition of a
turf course, similar to muddy but slower; not usually found in North
America.
- Hedge - The covering of a bet with a second bet.
- Hedging - A bet made by a cautious bookie on a
horse on which he has accepted large bets - in order to cut his losses
if the horse wins (also known as a 'lay-off bet').
- Heinz - A Heinz is a multiple bet consisting of
57 bets involving 6 selections in different events. The multiple bet
breakdown is 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15x4-folds, 6x5-folds and one
6-fold.
- High Weight - Highest weight assigned or carried
in a race.
- Home Turn - The final turn a horse must travel
around before entering the home straight in the run to the finish
line.
- Horse - When reference is made to sex, a 'horse'
is an ungelded male five-years-old or older.
- Hung - A horse holding the same position, unable
to make up distance on the winner.
- Impost - Weight carried or assigned.
- In Hand - Running under moderate control, at less
than best pace.
- Inquiry - Reviewing the race to check into a
possible infraction of the rules. Also, a sign flashed by officials on
the tote board on such occasions. If lodged by a jockey, it is called
an objection.
- In The Money - Describes the horses in a race
that finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd (and sometimes 4th) or the horses on
which money will be paid to bettors, depending on the place terms.
- In The Red - Are odds shown in red on the betting
boards because they are Odds-On bets.
- Investor - A bettor. A person at a licensed race
meeting who bets with a bookmaker or the totalisator, or a person not
present at the meeting, but places bets on the horses engaged at that
meeting with the off-course totalisator.
- Joint Favourites - When a sportsbook or bookmaker
cannot separate two horses or teams for favouritism, they are made
joint favourites.
- Judge - The person who declares the official
placing for each race.
- Juice - The bookmaker's commission, also known as
vigorish or vig.
- Jumper - Steeplechase or hurdle horse.
- Jolly - The favourite in a race.
- Judge - The official who determines the finishing
order of a race.
- Juvenile - Two-year-old horse.
- Key Horse - The main expected winning horse used
in multiple combinations in an exotic wager.
- Kite - UK slang for a cheque ('Check' in the US).
- Late Double - A second daily double offered
during the latter part of the program. See 'Daily Double' above.
- Lay Off, Layoff - Bets made by one bookmaker with
another bookmaker, in an effort to reduce his liability in respect of
bets already laid by him with investors.
- LBO - Acronym for 'Licensed Betting Office' in
the UK.
- Leg In - To nominate one runner to win with a
selection of other runners. This is possible on Forecast, Quinella,
Trifecta, Quartet and Superfecta (eg. Quinella bet with selection 4 to
win, from runners 5, 7, 8 and 9 to come second, in any order).
- Length - A measurement approximating the length
of a horse from nose to tail, about 8 feet, used to denote distance
between horses in a race. For example, "Secretariat won the Belmont by
31 lengths".
- Lengthen - The opposite of 'Shorten'. Referred to
odds getting longer, that is, more attractive to the bettor.
- Listed Race - A stakes race just below a group
race or graded race in quality.
- Lock - (As in 'Banker') US term for an almost
certain winner. Easy winner.
- Long Odds - More than 10:1.
- Long Shot - (Also, Outsider) An runner is often
referred to as being a long shot, because of the fact it is returning
high odds and is therefore deemed to have little chance of winning the
race.
- Lug In (Out) - Action of a tiring horse, bearing
in or out, failing to keep a straight course.
- Maiden - 1) A horse or rider that has not won a
race. 2) A female that has never been bred.
- Maiden Race - A race for non-winners.
- Mare - Female horse five-years-old or older.
- Market - The list of all horses engaged in a race
and their respective odds.
- Meeting - A collection of races conducted by a
club on the same day or night forms a race meeting.
- Middle Distance - Broadly, from one mile to 1-1/8
miles.
- Mile Rate - In harness racing it is the
approximate time a horse would have run per mile (1609 meters).
- Minus Pool - A mutuel pool caused when a horse is
so heavily played that, after deductions of state tax and commission,
there is not enough money left to pay the legally prescribed minimum
on each winning bet. The racing association usually makes up the
difference.
- Money Rider - A rider who excels in rich races.
- Monkey - GBP£ 500.
- Morning Glory - Horse who performs well in
morning workouts but fails to fire in actual races.
- Morning Line - Approximate odds quoted before
betting begins.
- Mudder - A horse that races well on muddy tracks.
Also known as a 'Mudlark'.
- Muddy (track) - A condition of a racetrack which
is wet but has no standing water.
- Mutuel Pool - Short for 'Parimutuel Pool'. Sum of the wagers on a race or event, such as the win pool, daily double pool, exacta pool, etc.