Kentucky Derby: Ranking the horse names from great (Commandment) to ridiculous (Wonder Dean)
Here are the 20 names in this year's Derby ranked from what we'd most like to see on the Churchill Downs walls in perpetuity to the least.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One of the first things you notice after entering Churchill Downs are the name plates of all 151 Kentucky Derby winners affixed to the paneling of the grandstand. From the first winner Aristides to last year’s winner Sovereignty, those names are going to remain there for generations.
As such, it is always nice when the winner of America’s most important horse race carries a name befitting their place in history. That doesn’t always happen, of course. Sometimes you get Strike the Gold or Majestic Prince, names that sound impressive right off the bat.
Other times you get Mine That Bird or Lil E. Tee. There are rules around how horses are named.
The Jockey Club mandates that names must be no longer than 18 characters (including spaces and punctuation) and can’t be vulgar (though some double entendres seem to slip by every now and then). Names can be re-used after a period of time, but certain names are off-limits like any horse in the Hall of Fame or former Triple Crown race winners. Some owners use the bloodlines to come up with horse names.
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