Holiday Horse Names, Gifts That Keep Giving

As Santa's sleigh plows headlong into the holiday weekend and with the New Year soon to be rung in, it's fun to recall a few of the horses that are forever tied to Christmas and the season by their name.

No breeder spread more Christmas cheer with the name registry at The Jockey Club than Cynthia Phipps.

Phipps' homebred Christmas Past is the most notable gift horse of the season with a name that recalls Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

Well named, as she is out of the Bold Ruler mare Yule Log, Christmas Past was the champion 3-year-old filly of 1982 based off five stakes wins that included a run of Belmont Park's Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I) in late June, the grade II Monmouth Oaks in July, and the Ruffian Handicap at Belmont in late September.

None of the 15 starts came in December, however she did win Hialeah Park's Poinsettia Stakes (gr. III) in March of her sophomore campaign.

As for Yule Log, she produced other Christmas-themed foals such as Saint Nicholas, Present, Buche de Noel, Kriss Kringle, Christmastide, Yulefire, and Festive Touch, but none could hang their stocking as high on the mantle as Christmas Past.

As a broodmare Christmas Past delivered offspring for Phipps that were named Be Bright, Myrrh, Christmas List, Boxing Day, and Wrapped.

Phipps also bred the stakes-winning Christmas Bonus (Key to the Mint—Sugar Plum Time, by Bold Ruler).

Christmas Bonus produced Christmas Gift (Green Desert), who was purchased by the late Edward P. Evans for $230,000 as a yearling at the 1993 Keeneland September sale. Evans' had plenty of fun with his "gift," winning a pair of grade III stakes, and was so enamored that he spent $500,000 to buy Christmas Bonus at the 1994 Keeneland November sale.

Prior to the purchase, Christmas Bonus also produced the stakes-winning Bright Candles and Bonus Money, winners Holiday Spirit and Iron County Xmas, and unraced Checking It Twice; and Evans kept the season bright by naming foals Christmas Storm, Seattle Christmas, Christmas Pageant, and Christmas Card.

The best present Christmas Gift left under the tree for Evans was Christmas Kid, a daughter of Lemon Drop Kid   who won Gulfstream Park's Davona Dale Stakes (gr. II) and Keeneland's Ashland Stakes (gr. I) in early 2007.

Sadly, Evans died on New Year's Eve (2010). As part of Evans' dispersal in 2011, agent Aisling Duignan signed a ticket for $4.2 million for Christmas Kid at the Keeneland November sale. Christmas Kid's Father Christmas (Bernardini) is group II stakes-placed.

In Europe, John Ismay and Mrs. Darby Rogers' definitely got in the spirit with their Santa Claus (Chamossaire—Precipitation, by Aunt Clara) who delivered presents to all in 1964, winning the Irish Two Thousand Guineas, the Epsom Derby, and Irish Derby.

Retired to stud in 1965, Santa Claus had a brief career as a stallion as he died in 1970, however he did sire Irish classic winner (St. Leger) Reindeer.

In keeping with the seasonal theme, we'd be remiss without recalling Arthur I. Appleton's Frosty the Snowman, trained by the outgoing Happy Alter.

A Florida-bred son of His Majesty—Frosty Skater, by Diplomat Way, Frosty the Snowman made 13 of his 22 starts in the Sunshine State, and was a two-time graded stakes winner in 1989, taking Woodbine's King Edward Gold Cup Handicap (gr. IIIT) and Arlington Park's Swoon Son's Stakes (gr. IIIT). He finished twice that year in grade I company at Hialeah and Arlington, but his racing career melted in September of 1989 when sixth behind Steinlen in the Arlington Million (gr. IT).

Frosty the Snowman stood at Appleton's Bridlewood Farm and sired 12 stakes winners.

And of course, there's Gary and Mary West's New Year's Day  , winner of the 2013 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) in a brief racing career. The son of Street Cry stands at John Sikura’s Hill 'n' Dale Farms near Lexington. His first crop of yearlings will be 2-year-olds come … New Year's Day.