subs. phr. (racing).—A horse that fails by a short head.

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  1883.  GREENWOOD, Snatched from the Boiler, in Odd People in Odd Places, 107. Fancy him having that horribly anathematized ‘SHORT HEAD’ all his own,… to revile it, and punch it … all the while with a firm grip on the cruel twitch attached to its nose.

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