What's In a Name

The name of the wonderful and deserving winner of the 2021 Arc De Triomphe worries me. Why the letter 'R' at the end of the first noun? No-final-R Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) was another Italian poet who thought as big as Hollywood and wrote incredibly long epic poems about knights in shining armors and their girlfriends, like his (better) predecessor Ludovico Ariosto. I have asked a few Teutonic friends if "Torquator" means anything technical, colloquial or otherwise in German, to no avail. So word play is out. Do only impressionable and...

DEGAS It's wonderful to have a son of established stallion Munnings (Speightstown) called Degas. From artist to artist: from celebrated English traditionalist Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) to major French Impressionist Edgar Degas (1834-1917), both great painters of horse scenes--and not only, obviously. Artists have got to stick together. 7th-Timonium, $52,080, Opt. Clm ($16,000), 8-28, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 1:20.04, ft, 4 lengths. DEGAS (g, 4, Munnings--Welcome Dance {MSW, $164,442}, by Henny Hughes) Lifetime Record: 23-2-4-6, $109,960. O-John Oller & C and B Stables; B-Ramona S. Bass, LLC (KY); T-Charles L. Frock DOUBLE...

One single racing day in England--Thursday, Sept. 9-was rich in suggestive racehorse names. Two winners in Doncaster within two hours of each other-juvenile colt Harrow (Ire) (El Kabeir--School Run {Ire} by Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and 5-year-old gelding Harrovian (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}--Alma Mater {GB} by Sadler's Wells)--manifested ingenious connections (via their dams' names) to the famous public school founded in 1572 and attended by young Winston Churchill. Singular coincidence. With Epsom winner Nuvolari (GB) (c, 2, by Time Test {GB}--Luang Prabang {Ire} by Invincible Spirit {Ire}) we are in another territory....

On this side of the Atlantic, Gulfstream 2-year-old winner O CAPTAIN (c, 2, Carpe Diem--Mama Nadine {SW}, by A.P. Indy) connects Walt Whitman's most famous poem ("O Captain, My Captain," on the death of President Lincoln) with Roman bard Horace's "Carpe Diem/Seize The Day," probably via the 1989 movie "Dead Poets Society," where an English lit teacher played by Robin Williams inspires his students to great ambitions with the help of both poets. On the other side of the pond, Thirsk juvenile winner LEOPOLD BLOOM (c, 2, Ulysses {Ire}--Zuhoor Baynoona...

Coco has many different meanings in French and it is maybe futile to try to divine which one caught the fancy of the breeder and first owner of brave 3-year-old filly La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler of the World {Ire}--La Petite Virginia {Ger}, by Konigstiger {Ger})--a brilliant winner of the G3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Give Thanks S. at Cork on Saturday. But one of those many meanings is a terme affectueux, a very popular term of endearment, equivalent to 'dear', 'darling', or 'sweetie'. Famously, "Mais non, mon coco," is...

FILO DI ARIANNA is Italian for 'Ariadne's thread'. The expression refers to a most melodramatic Greek myth. Princess Ariadne of Crete betrays her royal father and helps enemy Athenian hero Theseus in the killing of her monstrous half-brother, the Minotaur, who resides in a labyrinth. The Minotaur is half man and half bull and 100% crazy; please no questions about his pedigree, this is a family publication. Ariadne provides Theseus with a ball of thread, so that he can find is way out of the maze after the brutal deed....

As for intriguing names of winning horses, that was the week that was. Let's start with the seminal power of those two immortal little words Carpe Diem ('Seize The Day'} from Ancient Rome prince of poets Horace (65-8 BC)--also responsible for Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori ('It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland'), written only a few years after having run away, throwing the shield on the ground, at the battle of Philippi (42 BC). Two horses creatively honored the WinStar stallion Carpe Diem (by...

Congratulations to whoever named the very first winner by the Galileo (Ire) stallion Mondialiste (Ire). The 2-year-old filly won a novice at Beverley on May 3 for trainer David O'Meara and is out of Dame Hester (Ire) (Diktat {GB}). The Geoff and Sandra Turnbull-owned filly is named after the most famous Hester of all: Hester Prynne (GB), the complex and dignified heroine of the American classic The Scarlet Letter--the 1850 novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The narrative takes place in a Puritan community in Massachusetts in the 1640s; the protagonist of...

Racing success makes the name of a horse just right in most cases, and this is likely to happen with very promising 3-year-old filly JOAN OF ARC, a winner at The Curragh Mar. 21, the first day of spring. Still, this beautiful name seems so appropriate even now, because of the underlying historical connection between the French heroine Joan of Arc and the great scientist Galileo Galilei. In fact, both Joan of Arc and Galileo got in trouble with the Inquisition--to put it mildly. It was, and it was not,...

Young filly Tenebrism (f, 2, Caravaggio--Immortal Verse {Ire}, by Pivotal {GB}), the dramatically fast winner of the first race at Naas on Mar. 28, carries a brilliant and astute name. "'Tenebrism', from Italian tenebroso (dark, gloomy, mysterious), also occasionally called 'dramatic illumination', is a style of painting using especially pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image," states Wikipedia. And who is generally credited with the invention of this technique? None other than Michelangelo Merisi, also known...

Diderot (GB), g, 3, Bated Breath (GB)--Modern Look (GB) (MGSW-Fr & SP-US, $281,388), by Zamindar. Dundalk, 3-12, 8f (AWT), 1:39.24. B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB). *1/2 to Grand Jete (GB) (Dansili {GB}), GSW & MGISP-US, $335,759. by Andreas Branchini "Raced freely, led early, kept on well," reads the racing commentary about the victory of 3-year-old Diderot, who came out on top in a competitive maiden at Dundalk last week. That same narrative could also be applied to the career of the horse's 18th century namesake, the great philosopher of the Enlightenment...

There is a lot of learning and incredible subtlety in the name of 2-16-2021 Chantilly winner Buridan (Fr) (g, 6, Choisir {Aus}--Lady McKell {Ire}, by Raven's Pass). The sire's name is French for "to choose" and not for nothing, the great Australian sprinter was out of Great Selection (Aus) (Lunchtime {GB}), who was out of Pensive Mood (Aus) (Biscay {Aus}). The namesake of our horse is none other than a 14th century French philosopher, who explored the problems of choice and indecision with the help of a not-so-noble but endearing...