by Dean A. Hoffman

Dean Hoffman

Columbus, OH — The foaling season is now over and many breeders are now searching for names to give their newborn babes. I’m constantly amazed at how good — and how bad — some names are.

I generally don’t like run-on names, but I do like Somebeachsomewhere. I also like names such as Mr Feelgood, Enough Talk, and Before He Cheats among the top stars of 2008.

You don’t have to be a headliner to have a good name. You’ll see good names at all tracks. How about Take Charge Guy, Isn’t That Crazy, Look Who’s Talking, Call Me Mister, and even the horse named No Rhyme Or Reason.

By the way, I was looking at some entries from Tioga recently and saw four horses starting abreast in a race with the names Wedding Vow, President Oops, Ready To Rule, and New York Mistress. I’m not sure what meaning there is in that foursome.

Many breeders say that it’s hard to find a good name that’s not taken, but each year that lament is proven lame when others come up with clever and imaginative names.

Traditionally, breeders use the name of the sire or the dam as the launching pad for name selection and the late Norman Woolworth, a master of memorable monikers, said he always armed himself with a pitcher of martinis and a thesaurus when it came time to naming foals at Stoner Creek Stud.

Some people might take geographic names from their hometown areas. Names of towns, waterfalls, bridges, parks, etc. Others might pick the names of vacation spots that bring back fond memories.

Book or song titles would be great inspirations, too. For example, if you decided to name your horses after classics in American literature, you could have horses named Red Badge Of Courage, Tender IsThe Night, The Last Tycoon, O Pioneers, Pudd’nhead Wilson, Absalom Absalom, A Moveable Feast, Travelswithcharley, Tortilla Flat and many others. I’ve just scratched the surface.

Many times you see names and you simply have to wonder, “What the heck was the person thinking when he named this horse?”

But the horse might have been named after the owner’s favorite restaurant or watering hole.

Of course, few things break a breeder’s heart faster than taking the time to come up with an imaginative name and then selling the horse as a yearling and watching it get stuck with a new name. It’s happened to me and it’s happened to many others. But it’s the buyer’s prerogative.

A few years ago my partner Tom Charters and I sold a yearling named Lionhearted at Harrisburg for a decent buck. He was a big strapping bugger and I think his name might have helped him sell, but he was renamed using a stable name and I’m quite sure that’s why he never earned a plug nickel. If he had remained Lionhearted, he would have swept the Hambo, Breeders Crown, and everything in sight.

Old horsemen used to say that it was bad luck to change a horse’s name, but I dismissed that notion years ago when Thankful’s Major became Nevele Pride and Headin And Heelin became Speedy Crown. The name changes didn’t seem to hurt them much.

Another belief that doesn’t hold water is that a great horse must have a great name. That’s a nice sentiment, but the horse makes the name, not vice versa. Just as they say that all the girls get prettier at closing time, a horse’s name is nicer when he’s standing in the winner’s circle.

I remember when people used to think that Sugarcane Hanover had to be a filly’s name and made fun of a colt having an effeminate name, but that passed after Sugarcane won his first million bucks.

Ditto for Laverne Hanover. Yes, he was a colt with a name easily mistaken for a filly’s, but he sure whipped his fellow boys easily in winning the Jug.

So I hope breeders will take just a little time and effort to pick memorable names for their 2008 foals.