Horse Racing & Horseplayer Hats

Horse racing has its own language, and the people who bet it have a word for themselves: horseplayer. The language is full of bets and superstitions. A trifecta means picking the first, second and third place finishers in a race, and the word was first recorded in 1974. Bet the gray is a Derby-season superstition, with a rival camp that says never bet the grays and another that says bet gray on a rainy day. Bettors write about never letting anyone else buy their Racing Form, taking no bathroom breaks while they are alive in a sequence, and backing any horse with pink socks. These Horse Racing and Horseplayer hats start with the plain badges, HORSE RACING and HORSEPLAYER, then TRIFECTA. The longer lines carry the track's own voice: Dave Johnson's signature Derby call, "and down the stretch they come", later imitated by David Letterman; the old adage that the horse doesn't know the price, quoted from trainer Laz Barrera in 1978; picking the horse with the best name; and the racetrack degenerate. AND THEY'RE OFF is a phrase other sellers already print on hats and tees, so it gets a second colorway here, next to the best-name line. Every design is custom embroidered on an unstructured dad hat. They make an easy gift for the regular at the track, the friend at the Derby party, or anyone whose ticket is still alive.