turn of foot

English

Noun

turn of foot (plural turns of foot)

1. (horse racing) The ability to accelerate quickly.
   • 2004, Alan Potts, Against the Crowd, →ISBN, page 23:

     So myth number one is that horses who finish fast in the final furlong are horses to follow because they possess a turn of foot.

   • 2009, Emma Boling, Riding High, →ISBN:

     He had a turn of foot that could see him outsprint many a staying horse over the 2400 metres, but that was his limit.

   • 2009, Lyndon Stacey, Murder in Mind, →ISBN, page 155:

     The squareish track was flat and suited horses with a turn of foot, which exactly described the two runners that Brewer was sending there on the day following Matt's return from Sedgefield.

   • 2014, Peter O'Sullevan, Calling The Horses: A Racing Autobiography, →ISBN:

     Meanwhile Charlie Bell reported the stable's latest acquisition: a very good jumper but, as far as he could determine to date, 'without a great turn of foot'.

2. (horse racing) A burst of speed in a horse race.
   • 2002, Nick Mordin, Betting for a Living, →ISBN, page 51:

     A good deal of a horse's efforts at acceleration are dissipated by the surface. On grass, a turn of foot is a powerful weapon. On dirt or the All-weather it counts for very little.

   • 2003, Paddy Cummins, Green Lodge, →ISBN, page 94:

     He had failed to match the lightening turn of foot of Desert Destination, but was now eating up the ground and was almost up-sides.

   • 2013, B. J. Newing, The Rawlinson Family Story, →ISBN, page 102:

     He felt that, as he put him in a gallop, the estimated speed they were travelling at was forty miles an hour and his turn of foot was breathtaking.

   • 2016 December 29, Greg Wood, “Petit Mouchoir on course for Champion Hurdle after Leopardstown victory”, in The Guardian:

     The winner then found an impressive and immediate turn of foot to accelerate away from Nichols Canyon after the second-last, and he was full value for his healthy winning margin at the line.

3. (by extension) A burst of speed.
   • 2013, John Herbert, Marathon, →ISBN, page 24:

     The final gear change is phenomenal. His turn of foot prodigious.

   • 2015, P. N. Elrod, Dance of Death, →ISBN, page 58:

     Showing an unexpectedly fleet turn of foot, she ducked through to safety, smartly shutting the door in our faces just in time.

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see turn,‎ foot.
   • 1974, Vladimir Borisovich Sukhanov, General system of symmetrical locomotion of terrestrial vertebrates and some features of movement of lower tetrapods:

     The lateral turn of foot not only is the result of complicated turning movements of thigh, shank, and foot in the propulsive period, but also provides conditions for the normal transport of the limb in front after its disconnection.