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Hands in a Cap Gave Us “Handicap”

It may not be as rich a source of slang as baseball, but golf has contributed several terms to English, including stymie, “to get in the way of,” mulligan, a “do-over,” and par for the course, meaning “normal.”...

Daisy-Cutting

The term daisy-cutting, which refers to the low-action trot of Arabian and Thoroughbred horses, is reminiscent of the low grounder in baseball known as a daisy cutter and even the daisy cutter explosive, which shoots low-flying shrapnel. This is...

The Big Apple

Why is New York City called the Big Apple? In the 1920s, a writer named John Fitz Gerald used it in a column about the horseracing scene, because racetrack workers in New Orleans would say that if a horse was successful down South, they’d send...

quinfecta

quinfecta n. an achievement made up of five major parts. Also quintfecta. Etymological Note: From “quinque” or “quin(t)us” Latin for “five” and “fifth,” plus “perfecta,” a winning horse...

quinfecta

quinfecta  n.— «Jockey posts “quinfecta” Series…Laffit Pincay Jr. rode a record five stakes winners Saturday at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.» —“Jockey posts ‘quinfecta’ Series” St. Petersburg...