3. (turf).—A horse destined to be scratched or not intended to win, and
against which odds may be safely laid; a safe ’un (q.v.).
1864. Bailey’s Magazine, June. These al fresco speculators have
their dead ’uns, and carry ‘milking pails,’ like their more
civilised brethren, privileged with the entrée to the clubs and the
Corner.
1868. London Review, 11 July, p. 38, col. 2. The stable and owners
might safely lay against what was technically a dead ’un from the
first.
1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. v. Lord, what dead ’uns he
did back, to be sure!