Namesmanship

Naming a thoroughbred race horse is a delicate and demanding task. Rules of the Jockey Club--racing's all-purpose arbiter--require that the monicker contain no more than 18 letters, and that it not duplicate one of the 150,000 names now in use, or, for that matter, one used at any time during the past 15 years. With few exceptions, it cannot be the name of a commercial product or of an illustrious (or notorious) person living or dead. It cannot be a copyrighted name--say of a book, play, movie, song or magazine. It cannot be a famous racing name (Man o' War, Citation), no matter how long that name has been out of use. With all those restrictions, it was hardly surprising that the horses in this year's Triple Crown competition bore such undistinguished sobriquets as T.V. Commercial, Draft Card, Call Me Prince, Sir Beau and Forward Pass. The horse that captured the Belmont Stakes was Greentree Stable's Stage Door Johnny, whose name reflected rare wit and imagination on the part of its owners--John Hay Whitney and his sister Joan Payson. Stage Door Johnny's sire is Prince John, his dam Peroxide Blonde.

The Greentree owners have done themselves proud before: they once had a colt named Night Vision, who was the offspring of Eight Thirty and Knothole. But long acknowledged as the most adroit namesman in racing is Millionaire Sportsman Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, 55, whose past coups include Crashing Bore (by Social Climber, out of Stumbling Block), Age of Consent (by My Request--Novice) and Social Outcast (by Shut Out--Pansy). And when Vanderbilt in 1949 bred a stallion named Polynesian to a mare named Geisha, he came up with a name that will be remembered as long as horse races are run: Native Dancer. Trying as always to combine ancestry and euphony, Vanderbilt has concocted the following names for his current crop of two-year-olds:

Home from Sea, by Sailor--Home Port

Johnny Come Lately, by Prince John--Last Leg

Stiff Upper Lip, by Gallant Man--Cup of Tea

Wide Swath, by Sword Dancer--Waddle

Peace Corps, by Restless Native--Rosy Prospect.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.