What Does SCR Mean In Horse Racing?

I was out at the races the other day with a couple of friends, and we all made a few bets on some horses.

One of my friends was quite new to it, and as he was making one of his first bets, he noticed the letters ‘SCR’ next to one of the horses he had been considering earlier.

He wasn’t sure what this meant so he asked me, and I decided to collate my knowledge on the topic afterwards.

So, what does SCR mean in horse racing?

SCR stands for scratched and means that a horse has been withdrawn from a race. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but it effectively means that all betting stops on that horse and any stakes are refunded. It has been ‘scratched’ from the race.

Some of the abbreviations and terminology in horse racing can be confusing, but this one is actually quite straightforward.

You’ll often see ‘SCR’ on your racecard when choosing a horse to bet on, and if you’ve ever seen it before and were unsure what it meant, now you know!

Let’s look at the question in more detail.

What does it mean to scratch in horse racing?

Colloquially, to ‘scratch’ essentially means to get rid of. ‘Scratch that’, and so on.

In horse racing, it means the same thing.

When a horse is scratched from a race, it is removed, usually before the race has started.

Odds on horses are based on many things and can change a lot over the course of the day.

Horses usually race a lot more than once during a day, so their condition can change drastically throughout that.

If anyone suspects that the horse is in some way in danger from continuing to go ahead with a race, then the horse will be scratched from the race.

If you have already placed a bet on a horse that gets scratched, you will be able to reclaim your stake most of the time.

What are stewards scratch?

There are many involved in the potential process of scratching, and special mention is given to a particular kind of scratching: steward scratching.

This is where a horse has been scratched from a race on some kind of administrative grounds.

These can be manifold, as there is a heavy amount of regulation and bureaucracy surrounding big horse racing events.

Things like major weight changes can influence a horse’s ability to qualify for a particular race.

The stewards are usually the first port of call in evaluating a horse’s eligibility, but there are plenty of others who can choose to scratch a horse for many reasons.

Why are horses scratched?

As mentioned above, the first problems are administrative; you have to sign horses up for races so far in advance that many do so before a horse is even born.

For inexperienced racers, this can often cause problems.

Beyond issues of admin, there is always an on-course vet whose job it is to evaluate every horse before it goes off to race.

If the vet determines that a horse is not safe to race, then it will be scratched from the race.

This could be for any health reason, but often is a result of fatigue from previous races.

The jockey also typically has the authority to scratch a horse, if he sees any reason the horse might not be able to finish the race.

Again, this can be for many reasons.

This is very similar to the idea of a horse being pulled-up, except that this can occur after the race has already started.

The health and wellbeing of the horses is at the centre of the game.

If there’s even the remote possibility that a horse is not fit to race, then it will not.

There are many people through the whole administration process who have the power to scratch a horse from a race for a whole host of reasons, but all you need to know is that it has been taken out of the race, usually before it has started—so your stake should be safe.