slow trackn.
/ˈsləʊ trak/, U.S. /ˈsloʊ ˌtræk/ 1. Horse Racing. A racetrack with a soft wet surface which causes horses to run at reduced speed. Cf. fast track n. 1.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > racecourse > [noun] > specific type
training course1822
slow track1841
fast track1859
straightaway1878
bullring1897
paceway1978
1841 Spirit of Times 20 Nov. 447/2 The time above may be reckoned excellent when our slow track is considered.
1881 Chicago Times 4 June With..time allowance for ‘slow’ track.
1939 Kalgoorlie (W. Austral.) Miner 6 Sept. 7/3 Pageant and Marauder were the outstanding gallopers over a distance on slow tracks to-day.
2020 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 11 Oct. While Avantage would not be enormously disadvantaged by a slow track, it should suit Melody Belle more.
2. A course, route, or trajectory which results in slow progress or little advancement. Cf. fast track n. 2, which is much more common.
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1917 T. S. Henry Classroom Probl. in Educ. Gifted Children (PhD. thesis, Univ. of Illinois) i. 14 It was also possible for the pupil to change from the fast to the slow ‘track’, or vice versa, at the middle of the course, and thus to finish the course in five years.
1931 Amer. Bar Assoc. Jrnl. 17 342/2 Any case can be continued by agreement of counsel but after it is continued twice for any reason whatever it cannot thereafter have a place among the first ten of any day, but goes onto the slow track, as it is called, that is, in one of the last five places of some day.
1989 Fortune Fall 106/3 Naoe Wakita is president of the ad agency Dentsu Eye, but for many years she was on a slow track.
2001 Computer Weekly 1 Nov. 1/2 Downing Street indicated that consideration of ID cards had been put on the ‘slow track’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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