Glossary of Australian and New Zealand Punting - S

S

• Saddlecloth: A cloth which goes under the saddle to identify the horse by number and, sometimes in major races, its name.
• Salute the judge: The horse wins the race.
• Satchel swinger: A bookmaker.
• Score up: In harness racing the movement of horses behind the mobile barrier before a start is made.
• Scraping paint: Racing tight, or close, to the running rail.
• Scratch: To be taken out of a race before it starts.
• Sectionals: Intermediate times recorded during a race.
• Set the board: When a bookmaker completes the information shown on the betting board, by listing each runner in a race and their respective odds, he or she is said to have set the board.
• Settling: A meeting between bookmaker and punter at which money is exchanged in settlement for past credit betting. The majority of settling now takes place at the course prior to the race.
• (Shadow) Nose Roll: A wide lambs wool covered noseband designed to keep the horse from seeing his own shadow.
• Shillelagh: Colloquial term for a jockey’s whip.
• Shin sore: Inflammation of the membrane of the cannon bone.
• Short half-head: The second-smallest winning margin. In Australia a NOSE is the shortest margin a horse can win by.
• Shorten: When the odds of a horse decrease, usually because a lot of money has been wagered on that horse.
• Shrapnel: The term used by a bookie's bagman for a heap of small coins.
• Silks: A jockey's breeches and bib or cravat
• Sire: The father of a horse.
• Skinner: A "result" for a bookmaker which entails very little, or no pay out whatsoever on a race.
• Slaughtered: Said of a jockey who has ridden a horse so badly as to be the main cause of it losing a race.
• Sling: A sum of money given as gratuity or bonus generally by an owner to a trainer, jockey or strapper.
• Smarty: A somewhat derogatory term for a person not to be trusted, especially with privileged stable information.
• Smoky: A well supported horse with no apparent form to justify its price.
• SP : An illegal "off course" operator - a starting price bookmaker. The term SP is also used by racing officials to declare the official starting price of a horse.
• Special: see Best bet.
• Speedy squib: A horse which has a reputation for beginning races extremely fast and running out of steam before the winning post.
• Spell: The resting period for a horse between preparations or racing.
• Spin: An expression for a five pound note (pre-1966 currency).
• Spot: A term used for one hundred dollars.
• Spring Grand Slam: Informally describes the treble of the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup.
• Sprout wings: To accelerate surprisingly in the straight to defeat a leader who looked certain to win.
• Stake: The sums of money deposited or guaranteed by the parties to a bet.
• Stakes races: Group one, group two, group three or listed races.
• Stayer: A horse that specialises in longer distance races.
• Stewards: Officials who run the race meeting and are responsible for enforcing the Australian Rules of racing.
• Stick: Jockey’s whip.
• Sticks: Hurdles or fences in jumping races.
• Stipes: Another term for the Stewards. (Or Stipendiary Stewards)
• Stirrups: Metal "D" shaped rings into which a jockey places his/her feet. Also known as "irons".
• Stone motherless: Expression used to indicate that a horse is running a clear last in a race, or is tailed off at the finish.
• Stonebonker: A good thing in a race. A horse considered to be over the line.
• Straight out: Betting to win only
• Strapper: The person who attends to, grooms, and usually leads the horse around the mounting yard.
• Superfecta: An exotic type of bet which requires a punter to select the first six horses to cross the finish line in the exact order. Only previously offered in New South Wales; now replaced by the First Four. (Compare with the usual U.S. definition, which is similar to the Australian/New Zealand First Four.)
• Swimmer: Horse which performs very well on rain effected tracks.
• Swooper: A horse which charges home at the end of a race.