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Secretariat - there will never be another Thoroughbred by that name.

Naming a Thoroughbred

Date: 01/01/2022

All Thoroughbreds, regardless of their actual date of birth, are given an official birthday of January 1st to keep the age groups easily defined for race conditions. They must be registered with the Jockey Club within a year of their actual date of birth and must be DNA typed to prove their parentage. To be eligible for registration, both parents must be registered and DNA/blood typed and the foal must be the product of a live cover and not artificial insemination or embryo transfer. Relatively new is the requirement for all foals to be microchipped before registration. There are a few other rules which you can review here.

A Thoroughbred must be named by February of its 2-year-old year or a late fee will be charged. Six names in order of preference are submitted by the owner and the Jockey Club will decide which they can have. Horse names can be changed for a fee unless it has already raced or been bred. Names can be up to 18 characters, including spaces and punctuation. All horse names must be approved by the Jockey Club and there are a lot of rules about what you can't use:

The list of rules and restrictions is much longer than this and you can view them all here. The suggestive horse names restriction is the one many people, like owner Mike Pegram, try to get around with creative spellings such as Hoof Hearted, Isitingood, or Peony's Envy. You can browse the list of names currently in use or restricted at the Online Names Book. Names currently in use or which sound too much like them can't be reused until 5 years after the horse has left racing and/or breeding.

As you can see, there are a lot of requirements to meet when selecting a horse name so it can often be a tough task coming up with six names you like to send in on your request. If you are careful to check the Online Names Book to make sure your choices are not currently in use or reserved, it ultimately it comes down to whether the Jockey Club likes the names you selected and they can be quite picky.

If you have acquired a retired race horse who is missing his or her registration papers, you can find out what their registered name is from the identification tattoo under their upper lip, or if he was microchipped having that read. This tattoo is required for all horses who race in North America and is a permanent link between the horse and his registration info. Finding the name is free, and for a fee you can also find out about their career at the track. More on lip tattoos can be found here.

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