Bets determined, though the horse does not start, when the words “play or pay,” are made use of in betting.
Where two horses run a dead heat for a sweepstakes or plate, and the parties agree to divide the stakes equally, all bets between those two horses, or between either of them, and the field, must be settled by the money betted being put together and divided equally between the parties. If, after the dead heat, an equal division of the stakes be agreed upon, then the money betted shall be put together, and be divided between the parties in the same proportion as the stakes shall have been divided. If a bet be made on one of the horses that run the dead heat against a horse that was beaten in the race, he who backed the horse that ran the dead heat wins half his bet. If the dead heat be the first event of a double bet, the bet shall be void.
Bets made on horses winning any number of races within the year shall be understood, however the expression may be varied, as meaning the year of our Lord.
Money given to have a bet laid shall not be returned, though the race be not run.
Matches and bets are void on the decease of either party before the match or bet is determined.
A horse walking over or receiving forfeit shall not be deemed a winner.
An untried stallion or mare is one whose produce has never run in public.
A maiden horse or mare is one that has never won.
Feather Weight.—A horse carries feather weight, when the terms of the race allow the owner to place what rider he pleases on his back: he consequently procures the lightest eligible jockey possible, who weighs neither before nor after the race.
Give and take plates, are weights for inches: twelve hands to carry a stated weight, all above to carry extra, in the proportion of seven pounds to an inch.—Strutt—Turf Expositor.