Querying silks

A silk is the colours-and-pattern a horse carries in a race (the owner’s registered racing colours). The API exposes silks three ways, each suited to a different surface:

You have…	Query	Returns
a runner in a race	`Runner.silk`	the silk this runner carries on the card
an owner	`Owner.silks`	the owner’s reusable registered silks
a horse	`Horse.silkHistory` or the top-level `horseSilkHistory`	silks the horse has worn across its career

Silk data is in the standard schema — no editorial key required.

1. The silk a runner carries

Select silk on any Runner. The lightweight Silk gives you description, imageUrl, status, and assignmentType; the nested SilkDefinition carries the structured colour/pattern breakdown for clients that render their own silk rather than using the image.

query RunnerSilks($raceId: ID!) {
  race(id: $raceId) {
    id
    runners {
      id
      cloth
      horse {
        name
      }
      silk {
        description
        imageUrl
        status
        assignmentType
        definition {
          primaryColor
          secondaryColor
          tertiaryColor
          bodyPattern
          sleevePattern
          capColor
          capPattern
          invalid
          unknowns
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Variables

{ "raceId": "race_abc123" }

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2. An owner’s reusable silks

Owner.silks returns the owner’s registered colours from prior runs, each with isDefault and the firstSeenAt / lastSeenAt window. Use this to show “this owner’s colours” independently of any single race. Reach the owner through the polymorphic entity query and select silks in an ... on Owner fragment.

query OwnerSilks($ownerId: ID!) {
  entity(entityType: OWNER, id: $ownerId) {
    id
    name
    ... on Owner {
      silks {
        isDefault
        firstSeenAt
        lastSeenAt
        silk {
          description
          imageUrl
          primaryColor
          bodyPattern
          capColor
          capPattern
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Variables

{ "ownerId": "owner_abc123" }

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3. A horse’s silk history

A horse can carry different silks over its career (ownership changes, second colours). Two shapes return the same data, most recent first, deduplicated by silk definition — pick whichever fits your traversal:

Horse.silkHistory(limit) — when you already have a Horse in the selection set (e.g. via the entity query, or race.runners[].horse).
horseSilkHistory(horseId, limit) — a top-level query when you only have the horse id.

query HorseSilks($horseId: ID!) {
  # Field on the Horse type, reached via the polymorphic entity query
  entity(entityType: HORSE, id: $horseId) {
    id
    name
    ... on Horse {
      silkHistory(limit: 10) {
        raceDate
        raceName
        courseName
        silk {
          description
          imageUrl
          primaryColor
          bodyPattern
        }
      }
    }
  }

  # Equivalent top-level query
  horseSilkHistory(horseId: $horseId, limit: 10) {
    raceDate
    raceName
    courseName
    silk {
      description
      imageUrl
    }
  }
}

Variables

{ "horseId": "horse_abc123" }

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Where to go from here

Silk typeThe runner-level silk: description, imageUrl, status, assignmentType, and the structured definition.

SilkDefinition typeThe canonical colour and pattern breakdown shared across runners, owners, and horse history.

Example queriesThe canonical race-card flow — meetings, race, and runners.

Schema referenceBrowse every type, query, and enum, generated from the live schema.