What does ‘P’ or ‘PU’ mean in racing?

From the perspective of horse racing connections or, in other words, owners, trainers and jockeys, ‘P’ and ‘PU’ are undesirable abbreviations to see in the form synopsis of any horse. ‘P’ is more likely to appear in the at-a-glance form figures that appear to the left of the name of a horse on a typical racecard, while ‘PU’ is more likely to appear in detailed results, but both abbreviations stand for ‘Pulled Up’.

As the phrase suggests, if a horse is ‘pulled up’ during a race, it is brought deliberately, and safely, to a halt by its jockey, takes no further part in the race and is recorded as a non-finisher, on which all bets are lost. Horses may be pulled up for a variety of reasons, including exhaustion, distress, injury or any other set of circumstances that make it impossible, or unsafe, to continue. A tack failure, such as a slipping saddle, may render pulling up nigh on impossible and continuing to race, especially over hurdles or fences entirely out of the question. Pulling up is a more common in National Hunt racing than Flat racing, but not unknown in the latter.

Incidentally, instructing a racehorse to come to a halt does not pulling or tugging on the reins; voice and seat cues, followed by steady, even pressure on both reins, if necessary, avoids tug-o-war with a 1,000lb Thoroughbred. Once pulled up, a jockey can decide to walk or canter a horse back to the unsaddling enclosure, dismount and walk back or, if necessary, await the arrival of a horse ambulance.