Tuesday, June 2, 2009

"On a horse with no name"*

The running of 135th Kentucky Derby and the 134th Preakness Stakes, got me thinking about how horses get their names. The filly (you go girl!) who won the Preakness, Rachel Alexandra, has a normal enough name, but Mine That Bird is the name of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby. What exactly does Mine That Bird mean? (I feel like it must have some crazy subliminal message, but I just can't quite figure it out.)

Some other Kentucky Derby winners include Burgoo King, Gallahadion, Tim Tam, and Lil E. Tee. It's like they throw a bunch of two-year-olds in a room and show them pictures of pretty horseys and whatever comes out of the toddlers' mouths becomes a horse's name. (Actually, I take that back...I wouldn't want to insult my two-year-old nephew, who is actually quite an eloquent speaker.)

In honor of the running of the 141st Belmont Stakes this Saturday, here's a list of some horse names. Some of them I made up by randomly picking words from my magnetic poetry set and some are actually the names of horses running in the Belmont. Can you guess which is which?

  1. Light Heart
  2. Mr. Hot Stuff (Also a good name for a male stripper.)
  3. Full Rhythm
  4. Chocolate Candy (Very tasty.)
  5. Pickle Fight (I'm so naming my next cat this, just so I can call him P.F. for short...and if he ever gets lost, I can drive down the road shouting "Pickle! Oh, Pickle Fight, where are you!")
  6. Flying Private (I think I saw this movie in the adults-only section at the movie rental place...not that I ever go into that section!)
  7. Memory
  8. Luv Gov (This sounds like a political scandal in the making.)
  9. Sour Thought Drink (Don't try to order this at a bar...I promise you it won't taste good!)
  10. Summer Bird (Call me crazy, but I would've thought this name would've been better for a parrot.)

Did you guess correctly? See the comments to find out. Oh, and my pick for the Belmont is Mine That Bird because I think his jockey, Calvin Borel, is going for his own kind of Triple Crown.

*America