What's in a name?
Ever wanted to know how our owners derived the weird, wonderful, wacky and witty names for their horses? Well wonder no more...
Anaconda (Anabaa ex Porretta)
Named after the largest and strongest snake in the world and this horse is huge! Anaconda also includes part of the sire's name.
Anton Chigurh (Oasis Dream ex Barathiki)
Anton Chigurh is a character from No Country for Old Men which was a 2007 American crime thriller directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The film was adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. The character was a sociopathic assassin and Javier Bardem won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Chigurh.
Ballista (Majestic Missile ex Ancient Secret)
In reference to both the sire and dam, a Ballista was an ancient missile launcher developed by the Ancient Greeks, particularly effective over shorter distances and a predecessor to the catapult.
Barracuda Boy (Bahamian Bounty ex Madame Boulangere)
The owners son, Sam Bellman, plays for the University's American Football team 'Bristol Barracudas' and is the club captain.
Bear Behind (Kodiac ex Gerobies Girl)
The Kodiak brown bear (or Alaskan grizzly bear) is the largest subspecies of brown bear, hence we get "Bear" from the sire Kodiac. The addition of the "Behind" is just a bit of fun.
Betty The Thief ( Teofilo ex Siphon Melody)
David and Sue Ward named this filly after their dog a little Whippet who is called Betty and steals everything she can get her paws on. Hence the name Betty The Thief came about.
Bomber Thorn (Manduro ex Treble Heights)
Named in memory after the Owen family's much loved Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
Capo Rosso (Red Clubs ex Satin Cape)
The name is derived from the sire and dam as 'Capo' means 'Cape' and 'Rosso' is 'Red'. An alternative translation of Capo Rosso is Red Head which might, perhaps, be seen as a little dig at the trainer!
Cool Runnings (Dalakhani ex Aguinaga)
The owners children were thinking of a name for their horse they were inspired by their childhood memories of their favourite film about the Jamaican bobsleigh team in the Winter Olympics. Hence the name Cool Runnings. They tried to have the Jamaican flag as their colours but it didn't quite work. The name is also well suited to the horse!
Decision By One (Bahamian Bounty ex Intellibet One)
Tom rang Mike Jones, part owner in the horse, telling him "Look, I'm still waiting to give your horse a name, I want to enter it for Chester today! I need a decision by one o'clock!" Mike rang fellow partner in the horse, Michael Owen, relaying the urgent request to which Michael replied, "well just call it that; Decision By One!"
Eloquence (Oratorio ex Noble Plum)
Eloquence is fluent, forcible, elegant or persuasive speaking. So her name comes entirely from her sire Oratorio or to be a good orator meaning that he or she can speak with good and right pronunciation, intonation, tone, and attitude.
Gabble (Compton Place ex Royal Manor)
The name Gabble comes from Louise and Michael Owen's youngest daughter, Jessica. The only thing when she begin talking that she was able to say was -"gabble gabble gabble", so they started calling her 'Gabble' as a nickname. All the children have had a turn having a horse named after them and in 2013 it was Jessica's turn.
Gaul Wood (Amadeus Wolf ex Emly Express)
A member of staff, Gary Woodgate, at Star Sports (owners) nickname is Gaul Wood. They decided the horse should be called Gaul Wood but did not tell Gary until he made his debut and told him the horse had a completely different name. Then on the morning of the debut race, they opened the Racing Post infront of him! Gary was very touched and Gaul Wood is said to show similar qualities to Gary, a real trier and consistent but can be struck down with injuries!
Hickster (Intense Focus ex Surrender To Me)
There is a sports bar in Chester called Hickory's, where the 4 owners very often get together to watch the Horse Racing on a Saturday. All the owners are local and the city of Chester and its racecourse are very close to their hearts. So they decided to combine Hickory's and Chester to make Hickster. They are hoping that a win could inspire a few free drinks for these loyal regulars.
High Love (High Chaparral ex All Embracing)
Initially with reference to the Sire & Dam "High" from the Sire High Chapparal and "Love" from the Dam All Embracing. It had a nice ring to it and the owners really came up with the name in the context of "Hi Love" and twisted the spelling as it was more appropriate. It's also how one of the owners greets the wife particularly when he wants a favour!
Hurry Home Poppa (Holy Roman Emperor ex My Renee)
The owner David Ward's first grandchild Keira left him a voicemail when she first started talking and was waiting for him to come home to see her. Her message ended with the words... hurry home Poppa. Absolutely priceless and he saved it on a disc for eternity!
Kenny Powers (Vital Equine ex Alexander Ballet)
Kenny Powers is the fictional character from the HBO television series Eastbound and Down, played by American actor Danny McBride.
Northern Star (Montjeu ex Slow Sand)
There are a number of things that led to owner David Ward naming his filly Northern Star. When he looked at her pedigree she had the great sire Northern Dancer on both sides of her parentage. At this time he was also reading a book about the sire and he hoped that his talent would shine through her. The star part was after the star shape on her head.
Passionate Affair (Broken Vow ex Charmgoer)
Owned by the Passionate Partnership and inspired by his breeding. A broken vow of marriage often caused by one or the other parties having an "affair". Add some charm to the affair and it could become rather passionate. He is also a lovely bright chesnut colour with a flashy white face and socks so he does suit the name.
Party Ruler (Holy Roman Emperor ex Calypso Dancer)
Another name derived from the Sire & Dam: Calypso Dancer gave one of the owners an idea of a "Party" and "Ruler" is what the Sire's name suggests so together he got the name Party Ruler, the other partners liked it too and the name was born.
Quatuor (Kodiac ex Infinitely)
The filly was bought in France and is eligible for the French Bonus races so the owners decided on a French theme for the horse. We called her Quatuor, the French for a group of 4. This being the number of owners in the partnership.
Stepping Out (Tagula ex Teodora)
The partnership who own this filly had great success with their first filly, Premier Steps and thanks to her, they are now "Stepping Out" as a partnership and hoping for further success with their new filly this year.
Thataboy (Green Desert ex Hawas)
As soon as Tom bought this colt at Goffs and David and Laurence became the owners, David relented as he felt sorry for Laurence for not getting any of his suggestions in the other horses. Laurence choose Thataboy as he thinks of him as strong, compact ,well built colt just thought of the name giving speed over sprint distances.
If you would like your own horse to be featured here, or would like to request that another horse in the yard be added, please e-mail one of us in the office...
