Happy Lucky Dragon Win | How racing's lexicon leaves many lost

“Last time I gave him a bit of a dig and a squeeze coming out of the machine and he got on the “chewy” and then he had nothing left when I asked him to let down – he was empty, the difference was that this time he came back underneath me and relaxed.”

That was Zac Purton talking about Dominant after his upset win in last month’s Longines Hong Kong Vase, who he rode for the first time since his third to California Memory in the Champions and Chater Cup in May.

I sent this quote to a “non racing” friend, with some context. I told him it was a jockey talking about a horse after he won a big race.  Despite  my friend being an intelligent fellow with reasonable powers of perception, his response was “I have no idea”, before continuing with a hint of sarcasm, “Did the horse stand on chewing gum? What the heck is he trying to do to the horse by squeezing him anyway? Machine? Let down? Came back underneath the jockey? Where did the horse go, was the jockey just left levitating?”

It’s an example of how racing jargon can leave a beginner baffled and prospective fans out in the cold. There is such a divide between the language used in racing, developed over hundreds of years, and the understanding of the vernacular from a mainstream sports fan, that bridging the gap has become seemingly impossible.

Racing is such an insular industry and such a single-minded, obsessional pursuit for its participants that those “in the know” rarely consider, or care, that they are essentially speaking a different dialect to the rest of the world much of the time.

When someone asks me what I do, the answer “racing reporter” prompts questions that show just how far racing is out of the mainstream consciousness.

There are plenty of inane, but entertaining questions from “normies” – that is, normal people – about racing that show just how wide this gaping ravine between race fan and casual sports fan has stretched. Do they race in other countries? How do the horses get there?