During the various lockdowns, numerous friends and acquaintances sent me spoof race commentaries with Covid themes.
Oscar Foulkes writes that when Claire Balding was on the Graham Norton Show, there was a most entertaining few minutes during which fellow guest Minnie Driver was asked to read out names that the BHA had refused
Watch this fun:
One could confidently say that racehorse names spark some curiosity, if not outright interest, in the mainstream.
In many cases, the naming of the horse may be one of the few pleasures that an owner gets from his or her ownership.
It is for this reason that all Normandy Stud yearlings are sold unnamed. These days, we name only the fillies we retain for stud, as well as the two-year-olds going to the Ready to Run sale. The reason for this is that the final passport is then in place, and the horse can be entered to race as soon as the starting stall certificate has been issued.
Normandy stars relax
In the early days of our stud, my father had the rule that the name had to begin with the same letter as the dam’s name.
Hence, our sensational mare Envious had Envy, Entourage, Expertise, and Enforce, followed by a forgettable list of extremely slow horses, any one of which would have done the name Escargot proud. Similarly, we had Aquanaut and Agitator out of Aquilegia. You get the picture.
Of course, this convention is followed by many breeders in Argentina and Germany, as can be seen by paging through any sales catalogue.
New South Wales with Godfrey Gird
Godfrey Gird’s convention was to go through the alphabet. In Full Flight, Justine and Kendal Green came from successive crops of New South Wales. The ‘L’ year wasn’t kind to Godfrey, and then came Mildenhall, another blank year (for him) in ‘N’, followed by Over the Air.
The letter ‘Q’ was taken on solo, but X, Y and Z were lumped together. I don’t think anyone would begrudge him that, because by then Maine Chance was probably breeding a lot more horses.
Sue Magnier names the Coolmore horses, but she waits for Aidan O’Brien to give the nod before dipping into her reserved list for the best prospects. In South Africa, we have to link a name reservation to a particular foal, whereas they can reserve names for many years, simply by paying a fee.
Bjorn Nielsen with champion Stradivarius
Bjorn Nielsen tells an entertaining story involving his attendance at a dinner with the Magniers, during which he let slip that he had been able to reserve the name Michelangelo. One can only imagine Mrs Magnier’s emotions at the revelation that someone else had managed to secure this one.
Over 12000 foals are born in Britain and Ireland each year, so finding worthy names gets difficult. Hence Ben Timover (watch Minnie Driver in the video above).
Seeing as our yearling sales campaign is now complete, we’ve just finished naming our 2021 crop (with the balance, of course, being named by their new owners).
Normandy at the sales (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
For interest, here they are:
- Blowin in the Wind – filly by Querari out of Nordic Wind
I’ve strayed somewhat into John Everett’s territory by using a song title. Let’s just say that I’m a big Bob Dylan fan, and the wind reference was too attractive to pass up. However, we may need to keep her away from Kenilworth when the south-easter is blowing.
- Chakpori – filly by Potala Palace out of Night on the Hill
We got the name Marpori (the name of the hill on which the Potala Palace is built) for her full-sister, and Chakpori is the name of an adjacent hill.
- Hospices de Beaune – colt by Erupt out of Good Cause
Built in the 15th century to service the poor and most disadvantaged, this charitable institution is still in existence. One of its sources of funding is the annual Hospices de Beaune auction of Burgundy wines. Good Cause is by Philanthropist, hence the charitable theme in the name.
- Meursault – filly by Querari out of Celigny
The wine theme continues with this filly, who bears the name of one of the prime chardonnay-producing villages in Burgundy.
- Mister Speaker – colt by Erupt out of Point of Order
The South African Parliament has seen many red overall eruptions, with points of order being made. Maybe there is yet a route to be explored there, but for now we’ve taken the middle route with Mister Speaker.
- Natural Wonder – filly by Erupt out of Blue Wonder
Aren’t volcanoes wonders of the natural world?
- Quasikat – filly by Quasillo out of Yekaterina
I struggled with this one. I wasn’t feeling included to explore references to Russia. Quasillo seems to be a special kind of basket (‘A-tisket A-tasket’ was considered but deemed too niche). Eventually, I strayed to the dark side, by seeing what ChatGPT would come up with. Quasikat was the top choice, and I kind of like it, especially the alliteration.
This is a good point to doff a cap to Chris Saunders’ convention of using alliteration, generally in three parts (e.g. Raise a Raucus and Love of London)
- Sesame – filly by Legislate out of Tahini
This one was my mother’s suggestion, seeing as Tahini is made from sesame seeds. A slightly off-piste angle is the magical phrase “open sesame”.
This filly is smart as a button; when she was a weanling, she worked out how to get herself through the horizontal fence poles. OK, so she never needed to say “open sesame”, but in the mornings when I did my rounds, I’d never know which paddock I’d find her in. Miss Houdini could also have been an option.
- Worldly – colt by One World out of Lady Wylie
This was another one I threw at ChatGPT for fun. Top suggestion was Wordly One (anyone with a One World is welcome to use this, btw). I decided on Worldly, because it’s shorter, and I kind of like using one-word adjectives for horse names.
I’m sure there are times that commentators wish that names also have to approved by them. For the most part, these are commentator friendly, so I think we’re ok on that front.
Over to you, Jehan, Alistair, Craig, Clyde, Sheldon, Nico, Brandon, Devon, Rouvaun … or, dare I say, Richard Hoiles?
