morning glory
photo credit: "Stay Thirsty--2011 Travers Stakes" by Mike Lizzy (CC-BY-2.0) Definition: (noun phrase) A horse that runs well in practice but not in races
Example: After watching him run in the morning workout, Sally put her money on "Makin’ Bacon", but in the afternoon, he showed that he was just a morning glory and she lost it all.
Quote:
“He's no morning glory… Sometimes my biggest problem is he gets a little lazy in the lane. He's just got to keep his head in it and keep his interest in the race.”
Horse racing has its own specialized slang. Like the flower that they are named for, morning glories bloom early and fade early. Many are maidens, horses that have never won a race. When such a horse does win, it is said to break maiden.
Many racing strategies are named for the horse or trainer who made them famous. Bill Daly was once a famous trainer who encouraged his jockeys to take the lead early. Now to be on the Bill Daly is to be in the lead. A Silky Sullivan finish, called after a horse from the 1950s, is the opposite - the horse wins by coming from the back of the pack at the end of the race.
Horses that have been given illegal drugs to make them run faster are called hopped. This is an interesting term, because when discussing human drug use, hop is slang for heroin. Needless to say, this drug, also called horse, is unlikely to make anyone run faster.
A. C. Kemp | May 20, 2004
