18 Spring Racing slang words you need to know

KNOW your strappers from your hoops? With a week to go until Melbourne Cup, it's time you started brushing up on the carnival's secret language.

Derby Day 2012

GET to the Tote to box your bet - but do you pick the drifter or the odds-on? The racecaller will tell you if your pick is on-the-bridle or been drawn in the carpark, and their length will tell you if their hoop has trained on.

Say what? If you’re as confused as I am, then you need more than a new outfit for your big day at the races. So here’s Racing for Dummies - an insider’s guide to the secret language of terms you need to understand what’s happening trackside. 

On-the-bridle: The horse is cruising along in the run and looking pretty good to win the race.

Off-the-bridle: The horse is struggling to increase any momentum and improve its position.

Put on condition: When a horse has built some extra muscle as it has matured - this is a good thing in younger horses.

Trained on: When a horse has shown improved fitness in its races and track work.

Drawn in the carpark: When a horse has drawn an outside barrier.

Drifter: When a horse’s odds drift out in the betting market. Suggests that punters have little interest in backing it - so not a favourite.

Firmer: Suggests punters like its chances of winning.

Odds-on: When a horse has a better than an even chance of success. 

Underdone: When a horse is believed to not be at full fitness.

Early crow: When a person declares that a horse is going to win a race so far from the finish line that anything can still happen.

Moral: Label for a horse believed to have a near-certain chance of winning the race.

Hoop: Slang for jockey.

Roughie: A horse with far greater odds in a race compared to the favourite and not generally expected to win.

The Strapper: A horse’s PA - in charge of grooming, feeding, watering - everything the beautiful animal needs.

The Tote: Having a bet at the TAB. 

Boxed bet: When you box the runners in your bet, you cover all possible combinations for the finishing order.

A Roving Banker: A betting term when you pick a runner as your ‘Roving Banker’, and then select other runners to fill the remaining places. The Roving Banker must finish in a place and any of your other selected runners must fill the remaining places in any order.

Parimutuel: Betting into a pool with everyone else who is betting on the same bet type as you. When the race is over, the pool is divided among the winners.

Have we missed any? Tell us your favourite racing slangs in the comments below.