Naming Your Horse: Rules To Follow

Original article written by Kelley Wachter posted 12 years 3 weeks ago

One of the most appealing parts of the SIM experience is the opportunity to pick an original name for the foals you breed, horses you create, and unnamed horses you buy. Names can vary from tongue in cheek humor to serious appellations of glory to simple combinations of sire and dam names. But when it comes to deciding on what name is just right for your horse, there are rules that you must follow.

Any horse must be named before it can be entered in any races or bred (in the case of mares). This is similar to the real world but differs in that in order to be officially registered as Thoroughbreds, real horses must be named and DNA tested before their second birthday. In the SIM, horses can remained unnamed until the ages of four and five or beyond as long as they don’t yet have a career and thankfully no one has come up with a way to DNA test virtual horses (yet).

In the SIM, the naming guidelines generally follow those set by the Jockey Club Registry for Thoroughbreds in real life. In accordance with the Jockey Club, SIM names must be more than two and no longer than eighteen letters or characters in length. This means that punctuation and spaces count as letters—no numbers accepted. Sometimes, the spelling of a word or two might be altered to make the name fit the character count, as in the case of the word “and” being changed to “N” like in the Diamonds N Gold. Correct spellings are not a prerequisite, either as other times word variations are seen in names like Rush Tu Dis Miss, Nite Of Angels and Streakin’ Red, though they aren’t always necessary to fit character-wise. Words also might be combined to make a “run-on” name—which some players love and some players love to hate-- to fit within eighteen characters. Some great examples of “run-on” names include Tilwemeetinheaven, Goodguywearsblack, Shetalkstovillains, Nevernthemiddle and Whoopsshesstreakin.

The second most important guideline to remember when naming is that the suggestion of vulgarity or obscenity in naming a horse is strictly frowned upon by the powers that be, both in the SIM and in real life. This should be easily recognized by the players, but just in case some wordage inadvertently slips in, there are some “limits” mandated by the computer when you go to enter a name. I remember when I was naming my Transcontinental-La Dolce Vida foal, Treno Dolce (meaning “sweet trip”), I was trying to come up with “Sweet Train” in Italian and whatever it was that I translated it to, the computer reprimanded me and wouldn’t let me name him that. Charles Bunbury also remembers a name that was a geographical reference that he offered up that ended up being rejected. He shares, “The name The Devil's Arse didn't agree with someone! The name was changed by the Steward. Eventually it was changed to Peak Cavern. Peak Cavern, which is in the Peak district here in the UK, is also known as The Devil's Arse.”

Another rule to follow when naming is that names belonging to any horse on the list of SIM Hall Of Fame horses or those bearing likeness to real-life champions are not allowed, no matter if the horse is deceased or not. That means there is no chance of naming your next foal Black Condor or Saga or Einstein or Seattle Slew. Yes, there are in fact horses in the SIM representing real horses who are brought in by the Steward and administration to add to the existing gene pool. Also, many of the Game Point stallions are based on real-life champions, including A.P. Indy, Giants Causeway, Zensational, Shackleford, Mine That Bird, and more. Most recently there was an influx of real life mares including Havre De Grace, Blind Luck, and Shared Account.


We in the SIM are lucky because the Jockey Club also includes the following rules: no names involving the words “filly,” “colt,” “foal,” “mare,” “stallion,” “stud,” or other horse related terms, no names including single letter initials (such as T O P or J U M P), no names of persons unless written consent is given, and no names having clearly commercial significance such as trade names , no names of racetracks or graded stakes races. Do a quick search of names in the SIM and you will find many that break these rules, but that is the glory of the alternate universe of the SIM.

Of course, in the SIM, The Steward reserves the ultimate right to reject any name for any reason. Additionally, if the name is already taken by a horse (or reserved) then you are out of luck. Every so often, the Steward and her staff will go through and make available names for re-use if the originally named horse was not a champion, was not sire or dam of a champion, did not have substantial earnings, etc. Often a list will be posted on the Forum as a “Released Name List.” These names are sometimes also recognized in database lists because the have the Roman numeral II after them. If there is a name that you would like to use that is taken by a horse that is deceased, then you may ask the Steward for permission for it to be made available if the horse was not an earner of over $100,000 and is not the parent of a horse that earned over $100,000. Sometimes this wish is granted, sometimes not, but it is often worth a shot. I was able to get the name Scorned and a few others that way.

All in all, the guidelines for naming are not that strict and it is often a lot of fun to come up with an original moniker for your new foal or newly purchased and unnamed yearling. Have fun with it, be creative, and give it a go! If you end up not liking it, you can always change it before the horse races for a sum of S$5000.

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