To help you follow the action and talk like a pro, we’ve put together a handy A–Z Glossary of New Zealand Jumps Racing, your go-to guide for the terms, heroes, and traditions that define the jumps game.
A - Amateur Rider
Non-professional jockeys, often passionate trackwork riders or former jockeys themselves who ride in designated races, often for the love of the sport rather than the prize money.
👉 Fun Fact: Many top pros started as amateurs - it’s where the dream begins!
B - Brush Fence
A steeplechase fence with a brush top, usually made entirely of bamboo or a solid base. It’s designed so horses can safely brush through the top
C - Chaser
A horse that races over fences in steeplechase events.
👉 Fun Fact: Chasers are built tough - they need both stamina and serious jumping talent.
D - Distance
Jumps races are LONG - many over 3200m!
👉 The longest jumps race in New Zealand is the Great Northern Steeplechase, covering a distance of 6,500 meters.
E - Economic
An economic jumper is a horse that clears their fences cleanly, smoothly, and with minimum wasted effort.
👉 Instead of soaring high or jumping big and wide (which uses up valuable energy), an economic jumper stays low and can quickly continue after the jump.
F - Fence
The obstacle that defines jumps racing!
👉 Hurdle fences are smaller and made for speed and flow, steeplechase fences are large and unforgiving. Designed for stamina and the brave!
G - Great Northern
The Great Northern Steeplechase is New Zealand’s most famous, and toughest, jumps race. Now held at Te Rapa, it has a distance of 6,400m and is a true test of stamina.
👉 The very first edition was held in 1886 and was won by a horse named Macaroni. Since then there have been three horses to win it three times; Hunterville, Hypnotize and West Coast.
H - Hurdles
Smaller jumps than steeplechase fences – designed for speed
👉 A hurdle fence is an angled and inviting jump made of four or five wooden panels designed to collapse on impact. Each panel has a cushioned pad above these boards that is green with a white strip at both the top and bottom to provide a ‘sight’ for the horse. On top of a hurdle is either a natural or synthetic brush designed for the horse to go through and plastic wings sit either side of the fence.
Did You Know? Jumpers must start over hurdles before graduating to steeplechase racing.
I - Interference
Interference happens when a horse’s run is disrupted during a race, it could be getting bumped, squeezed, blocked, or forced to change direction.
👉 In jumps racing, interference can also come from a loose horse, a mistake at a fence, or a rider shifting across in mid-air.
J - Jumps Ticket
Before a horse can race over fences in New Zealand, it needs to earn its Jumps Ticket.
👉 Under the eye of a steward horses must jump with at least one other horse over nine fences to a satisfactory level to earn the first half their ticket. They then return in a jump trial to earn the second half of their ticket in what is a similar environment to a race. Safety first - A jumps ticket shows a horse is ready for the real thing.
K - Koral
Winner of the 1965 Grand National Steeplechase, Koral is remembered by a steeplechase race named in his honour on the first day of the Grand National Festival of Racing.
👉 Twelve horses have won both the Koral and Grand National Steeplechase, Crown Star, Decee Seven, Counter Punch, and West Coast have done the double twice!
L - Landing gear
Racing slang for a horse’s legs - especially important in jumps racing where landing well is key!
M - Mudlark
A horse that thrives when the track is wet and in ‘heavy’ condition
👉 NZ Winter jumps season = mudlark heaven.
N - Natural Stayer
A horse that can run all day.
👉 In NZ jumps racing, staying power is everything, and those with stamina are those that win!
O - Over The Last
A classic phrase in jumps racing commentary, the final fence before the run home.
P - Point–to-point
In New Zealand, Point-to-Point races are unofficial, non-TAB trials designed to educate young or inexperienced jumpers, and provide raceday-like experience over fences for both horse and jockey
👉 These events are organised by local hunt clubs or racing communities and are not part of the official racing calendar.
Q - Quinella
Pick the top two finishers in any order, just one of the many kinds of bets you can place on a jumps race!
👉 Strategy: Unpredictable jumps races = big quinella potential.
R - Riccarton Park
The home of the Grand National Festival of Racing!
👉 Held from the 2nd – 9th of August, featuring the Avon City Ford Sydenham Hurdles, Racecourse Hotel & Motor Lodge Koral Steeplechase, Hospitality NZ Canterbury 135th Grand National Hurdles and the Racecourse Hotel & Motor Lodge 150th Grand National Steeplechase.
S - Schooling
Training sessions where horses either learn the craft or practice for fitness.
👉 Most horses begin with small jumps such as logs before moving up to hurdles.
T - Tallyho Twinkletoe
The only horse to win the New Zealand and Australian editions of both the Grand National Hurdle and Steeplechase!
👉 Check out what this jumping hero is up to in his retirement here.
U - Unseated Rider (UR)
An Unseated Rider (often seen in the race results as UR) means a jockey has fallen from their horse without the horse falling itself.
V - Valiant
A word often used to describe both jumps horses and jumps jockeys – meaning brave, courageous, and heroic
W - West Coast
Trained by Mark Oulaghan and ridden by Shaun Fannin, West Coast is our current Champion Jumper with 15 steeplechase starts for 11 wins and four placings.
👉 West Coast was the first horse to win three consecutive Grand Nationals since the race's inception in 1875 (2022, 2023 and 2024)
X - eXhilarating
There’s nothing quite like the eXhilarating thrill of a jumps race! From the roar of the crowd as horses tackle the final fence to the heart-pounding finishes in a Grand National or Great Northern Steeplechase, jumps racing delivers edge-of-your-seat excitement like no other. It’s a test of courage, stamina, and sheer determination for both horse and rider.
Y - Yamanin Vital
Yamanin Vital was bred in Japan and later stood at White Robe Lodge in Otago, he became renowned for siring successful stayers and jumpers.
👉 Notable progeny in steeplechase racing include Hypnotize, Upper Cut, Climbing High, Youretheman and Counter Punch
Z - Zed Em
New Zealand-bred jumping superstar that won multiple Great Eastern Steeplechases, Von Doussa Steeplechases and a Grand Annual Steeplechase in Australia.
👉 Zed Em carried 70kg in his win in the Grand Annual Steeplechase in 2019, the heaviest carried to victory in the race since 1950.