What’s in a name?

AUTHORITIES SPEND HOURS CHECKING NAMES ARE APPROPRIATE

Some slip through the net like Wear The Fox Hat. London

There is more than just an art to naming racehorses. Like everything else in racing, the process of naming a horse is governed by an intricate set of rules, with a team of administrators spending every working day sifting through dozens of inspired, questionable and downright vulgar names to decide what is and isn’t going to appear on a racecourse.

If you’re planning on naming your racehorse after a real person, you might need to think again.

The racing world recently reveled in the viral tale of a South African owner naming his racehorse President Trump. The horse had to be gelded after proving “very vocal”, “arrogant” and “extremely stubborn”.

The South African racing authorities swiftly decided the name was problematic - perhaps because so many were noting the uncanny similarities with the resident of the White House - and demanded the owner change it (they did, opting for Fake News).

Had a British or Irish owner tried to register the same name they’d never have got anywhere unless Donald J Trump had personally given them permission to use the name.

Some names are potentially objectionable for more than one reason. Among the genuine names rejected in the UK in 2015 are the following efforts: Biggus Diccus, Ophelia Balls and Ho Lee Fook.

They all breached the rule that says names cannot be “suggestive or (have) a vulgar, obscene or insulting meaning”.

Another rule states names that “may be offensive to religious, political or ethnic groups” are also unacceptable, a policy that got the BHA into hot water when owner Michael Kerr-Dineen attempted to register the name Gay Marriage in 2013.

The name was initially rejected on grounds of “ongoing political sensitivities” but with gay marriage then on the cusp of being made legal and with the BHA facing a backlash that threatened to spill beyond the narrow confines of the racing world, the regulator immediately backtracked and allowed the name.

Interviewed at the time, KerrDineen said: “I’ve tried chancy names before and received letters back claiming I’m bringing racing into disrepute, but everybody in racing tries it – it’s no fun otherwise.

“I’ve got a few through – the best being a Royal Applause filly out of a mare called Devastated whom we called Clap – but we weren’t trying to be risque here.”

More prosaically, your options are limited because at any given time around 250,000 names are in current or recent use or on a list of protected names (so, for example, forget about naming a horse Secretariat or Dancing Brave).

You’re also limited to a total of 18 characters including spaces, cannot use punctuation marks other than apostrophes or have a name with more than seven syllables – these rules presumably there, at least in part, to avoid giving commentators sleepless nights.

Even with Urban Dictionary to hand and a well-honed instinct for spotting when someone is trying to circumvent the rules, the team at Weatherbys are not infallible and a few names slip through their net – no wonder when 12,000 to 13,000 names are registered every year.

Among the ones to make it through are Wear The Fox Hat (try an Irish accent) and, admittedly this one in South Africa, Hoof Hearted (say it at commentator speed).

But let’s be honest, it would be a far less colourful sport if a few names didn’t slip through the net.