Triple Crown Terms
Here are some race terms that fans can expect to hear during the three-week run of the Aiken Triple Crown.
- Allowance race: Type of handicap race open only to horses that have won a certain number of races or a certain amount of money.
- Broodmare: Female horse used for breeding.
- Claims race:Races in which horses of the same value run.
- Colt: Male horse between the ages of 2 and 5.
- Dam: Female parent.
- Filly: Female between the ages of 2 and 5.
- Flat races: Races in which jockeys ride horses around a flat track.
- Foal: Newborn toroughbred.
- Furlong: A unit of measure used to express the distance of a horse race. One furlong is equal to 1/8 mile, or 201 meters.
- Gelding: Male horse that has been castrated to make it easier to train.
- Handicap races: In a handicap race, the amount of weight the horses are assigned to carry depends on their speed. Faster horses are required to carry more weight than slower ones to provide better competition.
- Harness races: Horses pull a driver in a small, two-wheeled vehicle called a sulky, racing at either a trot or pace.
- Mare: Female horse more than 5 years old.
- Pacer: Standard horse in a harness race that swings its right front leg and right hind leg forward at the same time, then alternates with the left legs.
- Paddock: Fenced-in area where horses are stabled.
- Place: To finish second.
- Show: To finish third.
- Sire: Male parent.
- Stallion: Male horse used for breeding.
- Standardbred: Developed for harness racing by breeding thoroughbreds with Morgans and other working-breed horses.
Web posted on Monday, March 8, 2004
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