HANDICAP
—is a sporting term, applicable to either MATCH, PLATE, or SWEEPSTAKES, in the following way:
A, B, and C, put an equal sum into a hat. C, who is the handicapper, makes a match for A and B, who, when they have perused it, put their hands into their pockets, and draw them out closed; then they open them together, and if both have money in their hands, the match is confirmed; if neither have money, it is no match: in either of these cases, the handicapper C draws all the money out of the hat: but if one has money in his hand, and the other none, it is then no MATCH; and he that has the money in his hand, is entitled to the whole deposit in the hat.
A HANDICAP PLATE is the gift of an individual, or raised by SUBSCRIPTION, for which horses are generally declared the day before running, at a certain hour, by written information privately delivered to the Clerk of the Course, whose province it is to make out the list, and hand it to the Steward of the Race; when the weight each horse must carry is irrevocably fixed, (by whoever the steward may appoint), and appears in the printed lists of the following morning. Horses thus entered, and declining the weight appointed for them to carry, are of course permitted to be withdrawn, without any forfeit or loss.