The Name Game: Stories Behind Great Horse Names
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Notacatbutallama is a racehorse with a great story behind his name. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire unless noted)
What’s in a name? Well for horses, names may come from many places. Some are named after their sires (fathers) and dams (mothers) while others are named after family members of the owners, favorite athletes, funny comments, touching stories and more. The six horses below are attached to some of my current favorite horse name stories.
Liam’s Map
Liam's Map cruised to victory in the Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (not to mention six of his final seven races), but where did this special colt get his name? According to a story by Karen M. Johnson in Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, Liam’s Map is named for one of the first American special operations soldiers to arrive in Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001 – Col. Liam Collins. Vincent Viola, the husband of Liam’s Map’s co-owner Teresa Viola, founded the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, and when Col. Collins left his job as the executive director there, he presented Viola with a silk survival map that he had carried into Afghanistan. The Violas had just purchased an Unbridled's Song yearling and were so moved by Collins’ gift they decide to name the colt after it.
Wicked Strong
After the Boston Marathon bombing Centennial Farms' president, Don Little Jr., wanted to do something to honor the victims and survivors. He was inspired to rename his horse something that represented the strength and toughness of the city of Boston and the name Wicked Strong was born. Boston Strong was already taken, but if you ask me ‘wicked’ is the perfect New England slang to represent the resilient city. Centennial Farm went a step further and pledged one percent of his career race winnings to The One Fund Boston (five percent during the Triple Crown races).
Nyquist
Early 2016 Kentucky Derby favorite and winner of the 2015 $2-million Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Nyquist is owned by Paul Reddam. Reddam, a dedicated Detroit Red Wings fan, has named a handful of his horses after his beloved hockey team's players in the past including Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Kronwall and Mrazek. He named this bay colt after another - Gustav Nyquist. The human Nyquist's advice to his namesake, as told to Bob Duff of the Windsor Star, was "hopefully the horse keeps running fast."
Dortmund
Photo by Benoit Photo
Dortmund’s name was inspired by owner Kaleem Shah’s love of European soccer. In 2014 Shah's horse Bayern (named for Germany's FC Bayern Munich) won the Breeders' Cup Classic and Germany’s Borussia Dortmund is their rival team – he told NBC that he was looking for an archrival name for the big chestnut colt. Undefeated until competing against now-Triple Crown champion American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby, Dortmund came back off of a five month layoff and to win the Big Bear Stakes at Santa Anita – I’m looking forward to seeing this guy out on the track again!
Kid Cruz
Photo by Maryland Jockey Club/Jim McCue
Kid Cruz finished second in his past two starts, held on for third in the 2014 Jim Dandy and won both the 2014 Easy Goer and Dwyer. He is named for the touchdown-salsa-dancing New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz. Cruz tweeted and rooted his namesake on in the 2014 Preakness Stakes – unfortunately the colt finished eighth.
Another fun fact about Kid Cruz is that his dam (mother) Layreebelle is named after the children of Carrie and Craig Brogden – owners of Machmer Hall - where Kid Cruz was born.
Notacatbutallama
While I couldn’t find a printed story about it, rumor has it this horse's name was inspired during a family game of Catch Phrase. Owner Mike Repole was apparently trying to get his wife Maria to guess "dog" and gave her a fill-in-the-blank clue "Not a cat, but a … ". Her immediate response? Llama. Hilarity ensued and the Repoles had another great name to add to their stable.
My family is huge into games so I’ll be sure to keep a pen and pad handy this holiday season – you never know where the next great horse name will hit ya! Do you have a favorite horse name story? Please share, I would love to hear them!