Preakness and weird horse names
by Marissa Richardson | May 12, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Posted in Baltimore, sports
Next weekend is Preakness and I’m a little ashamed to say that I’ve never been and I know next to nothing about it. I know it’s a HUGE deal around here, the social event of the year. Even b’s own Ben Pillow has gone on numerous occasions to get his race on.
There was a discussion in the newsroom on some of the weird horse names that have graced past races. I knew of Barbaro, Secretariat and Seabiscuit (even before the movie!) but I didn’t think they were that strange. People usually name their pets, kids, even cars some odd things, why were horses any different?
And then I did some research…
Thanks to Google, here are some of the strangest names I found:
Citation and Assault ~ Did the jockey get into a little trouble before the race? He and the horse rough someone up?
Rock Hard 10 ~ I’m afraid to know what was rock hard…
Coronado’s Quest ~ This sounds like something from Dungeons and Dragons.
Mummify ~ Just gross. Ew. Maybe this is what happened once Citation and Assault was done with his competition.
Dreaming of Anna ~ Ok, this is kind of cute. But, I’m not sure if I would want a horse named after me.
What are some of the names that have stuck in your head?
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May 9th, 2008 at 1:07 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Panty Raid is one of my favorites, with Sonofawitch as the runner up.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:37 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
holy crap, are those real?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:41 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
To be clear, Citation and Assault are two different horses.
Assault won the Triple Crown in 1946.
Citation won the TC in 1948.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:38 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Yep, they're real! Panty Raid is a 4 year old mare who has run in a bunch of high-ranked stakes races. She even came in second in Maryland's own Black Eyed Susan stakes. Sonofawitch is not so good at racing, but I know him because my friend works for his trainer at Churchill Downs (I go to school at the University of Louisville).
May 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
claude~ google deceived me. at least i clearly stated i know NOTHING about horses and horse races.
i still stand behind my statement that they're weird names.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:38 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
A neat little article about naming Thoroughbreds can be found here:
http://horseracing.about.com/od/breeding/a/aanameingtb.htm
Who knew!