How much does a racing saddle weigh?

Unsurprising, racing saddles are very small and lightweight. It is generally accepted that ‘dead’ weight, in the form of the saddle and any lead weights added to it, is more laborious for a horse to carry during a race than the ‘live’ weight of the jockey alone.

Indeed, rather than sitting upright in the saddle, modern jockeys rarely, if ever, sit in the saddle at all. Instead, they crouch in the stirrups and hover, relatively stationary, above the saddle in what has become known as the ‘Martini glass’ position. Consequently, a racing saddle has a relatively long, flat seat, with no dip, and really only exists to accommodate the extreme forward flaps and very short stirrups which allow jockeys to adopt their characteristic modern riding posture. All racing saddles have just a single girth strap. Racing saddles designed for National Hunt racing typically have larger flaps than those designed for Flat racing, to provide a more secure lower leg for jockeys over hurdles and fences.

Regardless of the ‘code’ of racing, the purpose of the racing saddle is to make the jockey more mobile and to bring him/her into closer contact with the horse. In terms of weight, racing saddles typically weigh in somewhere between a miniscule 4oz and a rather more substantial 5lb, with 1lb or so being about average.

What is the Jockey Club?

Established in 1750, by some of the most influential people of the day, the Jockey Club established the Rules of Racing and was, until 2006, official governing body of horse racing in Britain. However, responsibility for the governance and regulation of British horse racing passed to the newly-formed Horserace Regulatory Authority (HRA) in 2006 and subsequently to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – formed by the merger of the HRA and the British Horseracing Board (BHB) – in 2007.

Nowadays, the Jockey Club maintains a portfolio of commercial interests, which ownership involves ownership of fifteen British racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom and Newmarket, as well as training facilities in Epsom, Lambourn and Newmarket through its property division, Jockey Club Estates. Other concerns include the National Stud, a 500-acre site on the outskirts of Newmarket, which was, until April, 2008, under governmental control. Following the acquisition of the National Stud, the Jockey Club set about reinvigorating and re-establishing confidence in breeding, boarding and education programmes; indeed, the National Stud remains the only working stud farm in the country to offer behind-the-scenes tours to the general public.

Why are odds of 33/1 known as ‘double carpet’?

In the heyday of the on-course betting ring, the job of the tic-tac was to convey information to his, or her, bookmaker, by means of a series of coded arm movements. Odds of 33/1 were conveyed by crossing the arms and placing the hands flat on the chest. Verbally, odds of 33/1 were and, in some cases, still are, called out as ‘double carpet’, which, like the arm movements, was intended to keep the information secret from anyone not ‘in the know’.

Betting ring vernacular often draws on sayings and slang including, but not limited to, backslang and Cockney rhyming slang, for its inspiration and ‘double carpet’ is no exception. In criminal, or prison, slang dating from the nineteenth century, the term ‘carpet stretch’ meant three months’ imprisonment; three months was reputedly the length of time required by an inmate to to weave a carpet or mat for his cell in the prison workshop. Thus, in the betting ring, odds of 3/1 became known as ‘carpet’ and, naturally enough, odds of 33/1 became known as ‘double carpet’.

What are standard each-way terms?

By contrast to a win bet, an each-way bet is effectively two bets. The first bet is on the horse to win and the second is on the horse to be placed or, in other words, to finish in one of the place positions specified in the each-way terms for the race in question. Of course, if your horse finishes first, you’ll collect on both bets but, if your horse finishes second, or possibly third or fourth, you may still collect on your place bet. The each-way, or place, terms not only specify the number of places paid, but also the fraction of the win odds at which your place bet will be paid out if your horse finishes in one of those places.

Each-way terms usually depend on the number of runners in a race and, in larger fields, whether or not the race is a handicap. Races with four or fewer runners are ‘win only’ or, in other words, the only place paid is first place. In races with between five and seven runners, first and second places are paid, at one quarter of the win odds. In races of eight or more runners, first, second and third places are paid, at one fifth of the win odds. However, in handicap races, and only in handicap races, with between twelve and fifteen runners, first, second and third are paid, at one quarter of the win odds. Similarly, in handicap races with sixteen or more runners, first, second, third and fourth place are paid, at one quarter of the win odds.

 

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