What is the criteria for name selection for horses in the Kentucky Derby?

Question

What is the criteria for name selection for horses in the Kentucky Derby?

Answer 1

The Jockey Club, which is the governing organization for the registration of Thoroughbred horses in America, has set the following rules for naming Thoroughbreds:

Jockey club rules:

1. Names consisting of more than 18 letters (spaces and punctuation marks count as letters);

2. Initials such as C.O.D., F.O.B., etc.;

3. Names ending in "filly," "colt," "stud," "mare," "stallion," or any similar horse-related term;

4. Names consisting entirely of numbers. Numbers above thirty may be used if they are spelled out.

5. Names ending with a numerical designation such as "2nd" or "3rd," whether or not such a designation is spelled out;

6. Names of persons unless written permission to use their name is on file with The Jockey Club;

7. Names of "famous" people no longer living unless approval is granted by the Board of Stewards of The Jockey Club;

8. Names of "notorious" people;

9. Names of racetracks or graded stakes races;

10. Recorded names such as assumed names or stable names;

11. Names clearly having commercial significance, such as trade names;

12. Copyrighted material, titles of books, plays, motion pictures, popular songs, etc., unless the applicant furnishes The Jockey Club with proof that the copyright has been abandoned or that such material has not been used within the last five years;

13. 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.

14. Names that are currently active either in the stud or on the turf, and names similar in spelling or pronunciation to such names, see 6(E);

15. Permanent names and names similar in spelling or pronunciation to permanent names. The list of criteria to establish a permanent name is as follows:

a. Horses in racing's Hall of Fame;

b. Horses that have been voted Horse of the Year;

c. Horses that have won an Eclipse Award;

d. Horses that have won a Sovereign Award (Canadian Champions);

e. Annual leading sire and broodmare sire by progeny earnings;

f. Cumulative money winners of $2 million or more;

g. Horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes, The Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Breeders' Cup Classic or the Breeders' Cup Turf; and

h. Horses included in the International List of Protected Names.

G. In addition to the provisions of this Rule 6, the Registrar of The Jockey Club reserves the right of approval on all name claiming requests.

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Within the scope of these rules, the owner of the horse at the time the name is applied for gets to choose what to name his/her horse.  Some owners use a lot of imagination in trying to combine the names of the sire and the dam, some name horses for things or people that are important to them, some name horses on a whim or just with something they think sounds good.  Clairborne Farms tries to name horses with a one-word name of seven letters or less:  Pulpit, Yarn, Preach, Swale, and so forth.  Mesh Tenney (trainer) and Rex Ellsworth couldn't decide what to name a chestnut colt they had sired by *Khaled out of Iron Reward, they swapped names back and forth and ultimately ended up naming the colt, who won the Kentucky Derby, Swaps.