Horse Racing Glossary - P

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Paddock - Area of the race course incorporating the pre-parade ring (where horses are paraded prior to the race) and winner's enclosure.

Pari-Mutuel - The Tote system operated in certain countries such as France and the USA.

Patent – Full cover multiple bet plus singles covering three selections: 3 singles, 3 doubles, and 1 treble, equalling 7 win stakes or 14 each-way stakes. The singles ensure some return even if only one selection is a winner.

Pattern races – A series of races for the best horses throughout the flat season. There are three Groups – Group One, which is for the classics and other major international races, Group Two, which are also significant from a national and international point of view and Group Three, which are normally only considered important domestically.

Penalized horses - Horses that have incurred a penalty as a result of previous successes.

Penalty – The extra weight added to a horse’s original weight in a race, as a result of winning a race in between being entered for the race and actually running it.

Permutation – Each individual way of arranging items, where a differing serial order counts as a different way.

Photo finish – A finish-line camera that photographs the finish of the race and is used to determine the winner in the instance of a close result.

Pigeon catcher – A very fast horse.

Pitch – The precise places in the betting ring where the bookmaker operates his joint. Choice of pitch is decided on race-day according to the seniority of the bookmaker (both personal and inherited).

Place – A horse that comes in first, second, or third. In races with a larger number of entrants, fourth, fifth and even sixth place can count as a place finish.

Place-pot - Similar rules to the Jackpot, but your selections have only to be placed.

Point-to-point – Amateur races run over fences.

Pony - Betting term for £25.

Pool betting – Known as Tote betting in the UK, where the total stake money for a particular type of bet in a particular event is pooled together and the winnings are a share of the pool after a deduction is made by the operator.

Postponement – Where a race is run later in the day, bets made prior to the postponement still stand. If the race is postponed to another day, overnight declarations must be ruled as standing for the bets to remain valid.

Pressure – The encouragement that some horses require in order to make further effort.

Price – The odds offered by a bookmaker on a certain bet.

Prize money – The total of the entry fees, forfeits, declarations, the sum contributed by the racecourse executive and any sponsor money.

Pulled - Deliberately Prevented from winning, or at least from obtaining a better placing, by the jockey.

Punter - A person who gambles or lays a bet.

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