Horses take their ages from May-Day; that is, a horse foaled any time in
the year 1828, will be deemed a year old on the 1st of May, 1829.
Four inches are a hand. Fourteen pounds are a stone.
Catch weights are, each party to appoint any person to ride without
weighing.
A post match, is to insert the age of the horses in the article, and to
run any horse of that age, without declaring what horse, till he come to
the post to start.
A Handicap Match, is A, B, and C, to put an equal sum each into a hat;
C, who is the handicapper, makes a match for A and B, who, when they
have perused it, put their hands into their pockets, and draw them out
closed; then they open them together, and if both have money in their
hands, the match is confirmed; if neither have money, it is no match. In
both cases, the handicapper draws all the money out of the hat; but if
one has money in his hand, and the other none, then it is no match; and
he that has money in his hand is entitled to the deposit in the hat.
_Free Handicap_ is an expression which frequently appears in race lists,
the meaning of which is, that a number of horses being named, a weight
is placed against the name of each, by the clerk of the races, or some
disinterested person, who is well acquainted with the performances of
the horses. These weights are supposed to be such as will bring all the
horses as nearly on a par as possible; and the list containing them
being handed to the owners of each horse, they accept or decline
according as they imagine the chances are for or against them.
Horses not entitled to start without producing a proper certificate of
their age, if required, at the time appointed in the articles, except
where aged horses are included, and in that case a junior horse may
enter without a certificate as to age, provided he carry the same weight
as the aged.
No person shall start more than one horse of which he is the owner,
either wholly or in part, and either in his own name or in that of any
other person, for any race for which heats are run.
The horse that has his head at the ending-post first, wins the heat.
For the best of the plate where three heats are run, the horse is second
that wins one heat.
For the best of heats, the horse is second that beats the other horse
twice out of three times, though he does not win a heat.
Where a plate is won by two heats, the preference of the horses is
determined by the places they get in the second heat.
Where a plate or subscription is given for the winner of the best of
three heats, a horse, to win the prize, must be the actual winner of two
heats, even though no horse appear against him for both or either of the
heats.
When three horses have each won a heat, they only must start for a
fourth, and the preference amongst them will be determined by it, there
being before no difference amongst them.
In running of heats, if it cannot be decided which horse is first, the
heat goes for nothing, and they may all start again, except it be
between two horses that had each won a heat.
If a rider fall from his horse, and the horse be rode in by a person who
is sufficient weight, he shall take his place the same as if his rider
had not fallen, provided he go back to the place where the rider fell.
Jockeys must ride their horses to the usual place for weighing the
riders, and he that dismounts before, or wants weight, is distanced;
unless he be disabled by an accident which should render him incapable
of riding back, in which case he may be led or carried to the scale.
Horses’ plates or shoes not allowed in the weight.
Horses running on the wrong side of a post, and not turning back, are
distanced.
Horses drawn before the plate is won are distanced.
Horses are distanced if their riders cross or jostle.
All complaints of foul riding must be made before or at the time the
jockey is weighed.
No distance in a fourth heat.
A confirmed bet cannot be off but by mutual consent, except in the case
hereinafter mentioned.
Either of the betters may demand stakes to be made, and on refusal
declare the bet to be void.
If a better be absent on the day of running, a public declaration of the
bet may be made on the course, and a demand whether any person will make
stakes for the absent party, and if no person consent to do so, the bet
may be declared void.
Bets agreed to be paid or received in London, or any other specified
place, cannot be declared off on the course.
If a match or sweepstakes be made for any specified day in any
race-week, and the parties agree to change the day to any other in the
same week, all bets must stand; but if the parties agree to run the race
in a different week, all bets made before the alteration shall be void.
The person who lays the odds has a right to choose a horse or the field;
when a person has chosen a horse, the field is what starts against him;
but there is no field without one horse starts against him.
Bets and stakes made in guineas are paid in sovereigns.
If odds are laid without mentioning the horse before the race is over,
the bet must be determined by the state of the odds at the time of
making it.
Bets made in running are not determined till the plate is won, if that
heat be not mentioned at the time of running.
A bet made after the heat is over, if the horse betted on does not
start, is void.
Bets determined, though the horse does not start, when the words “play
or pay,” are made use of in betting.
Where two horses run a dead heat for a sweepstakes or plate, and the
parties agree to divide the stakes equally, all bets between those two
horses, or between either of them, and the field, must be settled by the
money betted being put together and divided equally between the parties.
If, after the dead heat, an equal division of the stakes be agreed upon,
then the money betted shall be put together, and be divided between the
parties in the same proportion as the stakes shall have been divided. If
a bet be made on one of the horses that run the dead heat against a
horse that was beaten in the race, he who backed the horse that ran the
dead heat wins half his bet. If the dead heat be the first event of a
double bet, the bet shall be void.
Bets made on horses winning any number of races within the year shall be
understood, however the expression may be varied, as meaning the year of
our Lord.
Money given to have a bet laid shall not be returned, though the race be
not run.
Matches and bets are void on the decease of either party before the
match or bet is determined.
A horse walking over or receiving forfeit shall not be deemed a winner.
An untried stallion or mare is one whose produce has never run in
public.
A maiden horse or mare is one that has never won.
_Feather Weight._—A horse carries feather weight, when the terms of the
race allow the owner to place what rider he pleases on his back: he
consequently procures the lightest eligible jockey possible, who weighs
neither before nor after the race.
Give and take plates, are weights for inches: twelve hands to carry a
stated weight, all above to carry extra, in the proportion of seven
pounds to an inch.—_Strutt_—_Turf_ _Expositor._