Watching the Kentucky Derby yesterday got me thinking about this.
Does some sort of body regulate the names of race horses? Are they copyrighted? Could I name my horse Secretariat? (or Secretariat Jr.)?
What about vulgar or potentially offensive names? Could I name a horse Purple Turd, 3-Dollar Crack Whore, or Bill Clinton’s New Mistress?
IOW, in the world of horse racing, is it anything goes?
I don’t know much about this subject except that anything doesn’t go when it comes to naming racehorses. I read an article about the subject once. There is a registration organization that prevents duplicates and disallows vulgarities – although the article did mention about how an occasional scampish owner is able to slip a roundabout offcolor name past their radar. (I wonder if the same people work at the vanity license plate office; I read an article to the same effect about them once too.)
The Jockey Club maintains the registery. info on naming:
http://home.jockeyclub.com/name.html
As stated, they will disallow names perceived to be in unacceptably bad taste as well as names which have already been used. And yes, some owners have made a game of trying to sneak a naughty name by the committee, much like people trying to sneak something by the DMV for a vanity plate.
You can’t use a offensive name, but it is possible to sneak one by. One example was “Cunning Stunt,” though I don’t know if that horse actually existed. I do remember a “Brett’s Best Bet,” which led to a spoonerization of the first word by the track announcer. The call went “Breast . . . Bet Bet.” The last two words were spat out quickly as it was obvious he knew what he just said.
Not really on track, but my sister used to do a lot of equestrian show jumping back in the day. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who show name (typically horses would have a real name and a show name) their horses something like “Wish I Was” or “If Only I Were” or some other varient.
“Now showing number 17: Wish I Was owned and ridden by Jill Smith.”
Those wacky equestrians.