Please Help Me Name My Thoroughbred

In My Humble Opinion
1

Time again for another thoroughbred to get her official racehorse name. Tradition often has the offspring’s name somehow reference the dam or the sire or both. For inspiration, here is our girl, a pretty, yearling filly.

A few days old, with mama.
http://i14.tinypic.com/2ng4t37.jpg

A few months ago, trying out her racing legs.
http://i12.tinypic.com/2hnqu1f.jpg

Her dam is French Reign, her sire is Sir Cat. If we can’t come up with something better, she will be The Reigning Cat, which none of us think is really interesting enough for a future racing superstar.

Going back a generation, if that is helpful, we have Miswaki and Storm Cat as the two “grandpas.” Ideally the official name will be something that will also give us a good around the barn nickname, like Ghostzapper is known to his grooms as Zappy, and we call our French Reign, Frenchie. The Reigning Cat doesn’t really leave us with a good barn nickname.

And one other possibility. Her nickname to date has been Gabby, named that because she started “talking” the minute she was born… We sometimes refer to as Gabriella, what we thought was the French version of Gabby. So a name including either of those would work for us.

So can you help her avoid being The Reigning Cat? The other co-owners will vote on the name from a list of all suggestions. If your suggestion is selected, I will send you a copy of her first Winner’s Circle photo. And in a year and a half, you get bragging rights that you named the 2008 Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks winner!

Thanks for the help!

Here are some of the basic guidelines to follow:
Names can be up to 18 characters, including spaces and punctuation.
No initials such as C.O.D., F.O.B., etc.
No names ending in “filly,” “colt,” “stud,” “mare,” “stallion,” or any similar horse-related term
No names consisting entirely of numbers, except numbers above thirty may be used if they are spelled out
No names ending with a numerical designation such as “2nd” or “3rd,” whether or not such a designation is spelled out
No names of persons unless written permission to use their name is on file with The Jockey Club
No names of race tracks or graded stakes races
No names clearly having commercial significance, such as trade names
No names that are suggestive or have a vulgar or obscene meaning; names considered in poor taste; or names that may be offensive to religious, political or ethnic groups
No names from the restricted list (Hall of Fame members, Eclipse Awards winners, Kentucky Derby winners, etc.)

2

How about Le Chat Magnifique? (Or La Chat Magnifique … I don’t remember my French articles.)

3

Reign Storm…Stormy for short.

4

Are we each allowed only one suggestion?

I suggest La Reine des Chats, which is French for “The Queen of Cats”. That doesn’t leave you with a good barn nickname either, but you could always just keep calling her Gabby, I guess.

5

Napolean’s Pussy.

What?

6

Thru Babelfish:

Le chat français : The French Cat. Call her Frannie for short.

7

Thanks for the suggestions so far…She most definately is “The Queen of Cats.”

She is in a very large pasture with two other yearling fillys. When they hear us walking up, knowing we bring carrots, she is always beats the others to get to us first. Here she is, at the front of the pack.
http://i12.tinypic.com/4dhh6gz.jpg
Not that she is so much faster at this point, but she has convinced the others that she is Queen, and she should be first. The others always let her go first. And that is not a bad trait in a thoroughbred. Many races are lost by faster horses who get intimitaded by one who “eyes” them, causing them to slow down.

And please list as many as you can think of. Sometimes the best names come from brain storming lists of many that don’t work at first, but lead to a great one.

And for any French names, an “American” pronunciation is appreciated. I will be submitting the list from here to the other co-owners, and an idea of how the names sounds will help.

Racing has many famous Spanish word horse names, Gato Del Sol ( anyone know the equalivant in French?) El Prado, and many in Arabic, but not many French ones. Those would be a challenge to the race callers of the midwest, but that is OK.

I like all three of these suggestions better than The Reigning Cat, thanks!

8
  1. Reign Storm?
9

Shirley, I wish! But I don’t think that one will get through. The Jockey Club did let through by accident, the famous Hoof Hearted, Isitingood, and Peony’s Envy.

But they are starting to catch on. So for one of those to slip in, it will have to be really clever. There is a California owner who is known for trying. He does have a horse, Love on the Rail, which those who know him, know is named for him getting busted by a security guard in “a romantic interlude” one night on the track.
He also has “Woke up Dreaming,” which is said to be for another late night encounter in the barns.

So keep trying Shirley, I think you may come up with one that will work.

10

La Reine des Chats is still available but **Queen of Cats ** isn’t according to the Jockey Club Name Search. There is an Aussie band called **The Cat Empire ** which strikes me as a cool name.

11

La Reine des Chats is pronounced “la ren day sha”. The French translation of Gato del Sol (“cat of the sun”) would be Chat du Soleil (“sha doo so-lay”).

12

I think French Pussy is more straightforward and honors both parents very well.

13

A Thoroughbred. Fast, strong.

My Wife is a horse person, but I doubt we will every be able to have our own horses. We did by land that could support them, and still have it. We where going to name it Wasabi Ranch. It will probably become property that we may retire on. For now, it’s just not in the cards for living there.

So, my recommendation is Wasabi. It’s a hot ** Horseradish**. Perfect name for a thoroughbred IMHO.

I was going to name my horse ‘Buck’. Dumb and overused I know. But I still thought it was funny in my own way.

14

Well, here are a few I wouldn’t mind hearing from a track announcer some day:

Reigning Catsndogs
Minou de la Reine (“minoo de la ren.” Translation: The Queen’s Kitty)
Knight’s Kitty
French Feline
Stormy Knight (may be better for a colt from that bloodline)
Nobility Kitty
Tee Minou (bastardization of the French petit minou, “little kitty”)

And because I can’t resist:

[del]French[/del] Freedom Cat :smiley:

15

Crikey.

A covering by Storm Cat would have cost about $500,000 a few years ago.

16

Her dam is French Reign, her sire is Sir Cat…how about:

Cats Rule

:smiley:

Or how about:

Stormy Reign

17

How about Queen Catherine?

18

How about:
Queen Gabriella
Gabriella La Reine
Regal Feline
Reigning Feline
Felis Regina (Latin!)
Empress of Cats
Storm Queen
Queen of Storms

Or, since you’ve already got nobility (Sir) and royalty (Reign) involved, how about elevating her higher:
Cat Goddess or Storm Goddess, Rain Goddess/Reign Goddess?
Or in French: Déesse De Chat

19

Aristocat maybe?

20

La Reine Noir? (or would it be noire?)

Sort of references the “Tournee du Chat Noir” posters. Opens up possibilities for the naming of her own offspring–chess, playing cards, Alice in Wonderland, the African Queen. Heck, Renoir, har de har har.