The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories

by Jim Haynes

  SIRE A sire is a horse’s male parent; a grandsire is a horse’s male grandparent. A horse is said be ‘by’ the sire.

  SPELL A spell is a break from training and racing where a horse can rest and put on weight in a paddock.

  SPRINTER A sprinter is a horse that races short distances, from 800 to 1400 metres.

  STAKES Stakes are racing events offering large amounts of money for the winner and the placegetters.

  STAYER A stayer is a horse that races long distances of 2000 metres or more. A good stayer is not only able to run the distance but is also fast enough to win.

  STEEPLECHASE A steeplechase is a race over many different and difficult obstacles. Originally it was a cross-country race with a church tower serving as a landmark to guide the riders.

  STRAIGHT-OUT BET A straight-out bet is a bet for a win only. If a field is small or has a short-priced favourite horse, the bookmaker takes win bets only. If a horse completely dominates the race, the bookmaker will not take any bets.

  STRAPPER A strapper is a stablehand caring for one or several horses on raceday.

  STUD A property specifically set up for breeding horses.

  TOUT Also called ‘coat-tugger’, ‘urger’ or ‘whisperer’, a tout is a person who makes a living selling tips on a racetrack by various methods, often nefarious and unprincipled—a con man.

  WASTE Most jockeys struggle to keep their weight low. They use exercise, fasting and sweating to reduce their weight and these methods are called wasting.

  WEIGHT-FOR-AGE Weight-for-age (or wfa) is a method of weight allocation for horses, allowing horses of different ages and gender to compete in the same race under the most equal conditions. Top races use a weight-for-age scale, allowing the best horse to win. The scale was introduced in England in the eighteenth century and has been modified slightly over the years.

  YEARLING A yearling is a one-year-old horse. To standardise horses’ ages, every racehorse in Australia turns one year older on 1 August.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I would like to thank Rebecca Kaiser and Michelle Swainson at Allen & Unwin and copyeditor Susin Chow, who was the best person we could have found for the job. Thanks to Les Carlyon, David Hickie, Bruce Montgomerie, Wayne Peake, Peter Harris, Tony Kneebone, Penny Hand, Phil Purser, and Betty Lane Holland for their willingness to be part of this collection.

  For the photos—thanks to the old AJC Library and the Victorian Racing Museum, and those two great racing photographers, Steve Hart and Ern McQuillan.