Best Australian Racing Stories (47 page)
SIRE A sire is a horse's male parent; a grandsire is the horse's male grandparent. A horse is said be âby' 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 âcoat-tugger', âurger' or âwhisperer', a tout is a person who makes a living selling tips on a racetrack by various methods, often nefarious and unprincipledâa 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 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 18th century and has been modified slightly over the years.
YEARLING A yearling is a one-year-old horse. To standardise horses' ages every horse in Australia turns one year older on 1 August.
I would like to thank Stuart Neal, Jo Lyons and Siobhan Cantrill at Allen & Unwin for their passion and guidance, Alice Grundy for all the paperwork, and Darian Causby for his cover design. A special thankyou has to go to copyeditor Susin Chow, whose diligence, enthusiasm and suggestions proved that she was the best person we could have found for the job.
Thanks to Les Carlyon, David Hickie, Bruce Montgomerie and Crackers Keenan for their willingness to be part of this collection.
Racing people are generally gracious and helpful but I want to specifically thank Carole in the AJC Library and Sue Hutchinson and Murray Conallin in the AJC office; Lorinda Cramer, Liz Browne and Kathy Peters at the Victorian Racing Museum; and those two master racing photographers, Steve Hart and Ern McQuillan.
Very special thanks to Ellen and Bruce Montgomerie for their assistance and friendship. Thanks also to Dianna Corcoran for helping out with photos, and George and Paul at 2UE for allowing me to talk about racing so often.