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The more I think about this, the more I agree with Bruce Millington on the subject.
In two predominately English speaking jurisdictions, to have many of the horses in the sport given mainly three word French names adds nothing, actually for me it detracts.
“A Plus This”, “Benie De That” “Ramses De Other”.
Meaningless names that offer no connection to some of the best competitors over the jumps.
I know that some of the Arab owners on the Flat do it too, but its probably only Sheikh Hamdan that does it exclusively. Most of his are one word only, and personally I dont find that as off-putting.
Give me Desert Orchid, Limestone Lad, One Man, any day of the week.
I totally agree, but I differ about the Hamdan naming. I hate it. Muharar, Muhareer, Mutamared, Mutamarah, does my head in. Can’t even remember the name of that top sprinter Hanaghan rode a few seasons ago.
I’m sure his Royal Highness will be crushed by the news that I don’t like his naming policy,
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If I could change one naming policy it would be Gerry McGrath’s. Jett, Jetz, Jetez, Jetson, blah blah. It’s easier to keep even the Gabrial The Wonderful names separate in your head than those.
Monbegs – annoying as hell. There is another recurring one in NH which annoys the hell out of me, but I can’t place it. Think Twister had a middle distance handicap chaser with the name a few year back…..
I generally love the Juddmonte naming strategy, and Coolmore tend to be nicely named.
Hamdan is the one I really dislike. Surely has some marketing effect? Does it make a difference? People much more likely to remember ‘Kingman’, then ‘Muhaarer’ or whatever. I’d be paranoid I was adding a superfluous letter and paying fortunes for a similarly named 70 rated handicapper or something.
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“A Plus This”, “Benie De That” “Ramses De Other”.
If I presume you mean A Plus Tard, Benie Des Dieux and Ramases De Teillee, I think these are all French bred horses who probably started their careers in France like many National Hunt racehorses.
Out of interest had a look at the results from Chantilly last Friday.
10 races 153 runners
Obvious (to me) ………
French names – 20%
English names – 48%
Not sure – 32%If that tiny sample is representative of French racing we have nothing to complain about really.
I.
I do not follow it much now but it is worse in greyhound racing. All those Droopys and Ballymacs and Farloes. It gets very tedious after a while.
“If I presume you mean A Plus Tard, Benie Des Dieux and Ramases De Teillee, I think these are all French bred horses who probably started their careers in France like many National Hunt racehorses.”
Exactly. If people such as Millington don’t like French names, they should tell owners not to buy French horses.
Oh wait… that’ll never happen.
Erik Penser and his Beauchamps were quite annoying as well.
Also in the mid 90s there was this “Mafia Boss” from the North called Don Eddy who had pretty decent bumper horses. Most of the were called ……. Equiname.
Exactly. If people such as Millington don’t like French names, they should tell owners not to buy French horses.
Aye should have left horses like Kauto Star, Sprinter Sacre, Azertyuiop and Buveur D’Air to ply their trade in France.
A simpler solution would be to continue to buy French horses for NH racing in Ireland and the UK, then give them English names that the majority of us racing fans can relate to.
Suny Bay, Viking Flagship, Moscow Flyer
or
Faceur Du Large, Espson Du Houx, Eleazar Des Neiges.
The former imo.
The Irish may want Gaelic names though which are sometimes harder to pronounce than the French. Many British fans still won’t be able to relate to these either. Old favourites of mine were Bancnuanaheireann and Bothar Na.
Totally agree. Same goes for Irish names. But I wouldn’t say its much of an issue in that case though. Jim Bolger comes to mind with a few Irish names, but theres not too many I think.
The French names thing is on the increase though.
Why can’t the names just be used in their trainers countries translated language?
Although I must admit L’Escargot sounds a bit better than the English Translation…
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