The significance of jockey silks goes beyond the simple need to tell one horse apart from the rest. The owner of a horse has the option of carefully designing his or her own silks from a variety of colours, shapes
and styles - and can even include patterns. Once the design has been decided, the owner of the horse checks that the design is not already taken and, if it is not, registers it as his or her own. That design, which features on the jockey’s shirt and
helmet, and sometimes on the blinkers, will be used for all the horses that are owned by the person who registered the design. In this situation, the silks are used to identify the owner as well as the horse.
If
owners do not have their own silks, it is usual for their horses to run in the silks of their trainer. The Parker racing colours are described as: Red, gold sash, green armbands and cap (as shown in the photo).
Each horse Tony Parker trains has a dedicated page on this website and the colours in which the horse runs are displayed as a banner at the top of that page. The silks are a very important part of racing and race
fans should not underestimate the usefulness of what appear to be a few colours and shapes adorning a jockey’s jersey.