What's In a Name

by Andrea Branchini APOGEE (f, 3, Malibu Moon--My Limit, by Wagon Limit) The name of Christophe Clement's recent 3-year-old winner at Tampa Bay Downs is wise to lunar science and astronomy. She is by Malibu Moon out of My Limit, and her name is Apogee, which, according to the Google Dictionary, is "the point in the orbit of the moon or a satellite at which it is furthest from the earth." Brainy, inventive name. An Italian native, Andrea Branchini now lives in Lexington, KY, where he works in the equine...

MEYDAN CLASSIC (SPONSORED BY MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM CITY-DISTRICT ONE)-Listed, $175,000, Meydan, 2-27, NH3yo & SH3yo, 1600mT, 1:35.87, gd. 1--WELL OF WISDOM (GB), 126, c, 3, by Oasis Dream (GB)--Alessandria (GB), by Sunday Silence. O/B-Godolphin (GB); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. The name of the recent listed winner at Meydan WELL OF WISDOM, out of the mare ALESSANDRIA, is a clear and smart reference to the Library of Alexandria, which prospered in ancient Egypt as the world's greatest cultural and scientific center for almost 10 centuries, from 305 BC to...

by Andrea Branchini There is quite a Native American connection in the names of the family line of Oaklawn allowance winner FIRECROW. His dam is the artistically named CHEYENNE AUTUMN (by Indian Charlie), resonant of the 1964 very "pro-Indians" John Ford western, defined as "an elegy for the Native Americans". The late Joseph Fire Crow (sometimes spelled as Firecrow or FireCrow) was a famous and talented Cheyenne musician, nominated for a Grammy in 2001 for his album "Cheyenne Nation". 8th-Oaklawn, $88,000, 2-14, (NW3L), 3yo/up, 6f, 1:10.62, ft. FIRECROW (g, 4,...

by Andrea Branchini DAY THE MUSIC DIED (g, 5, Maclean's Music--Kelly's Question, by Mr. Greeley) Laurel Park, 1-31, Alw, 6f, 1:10.95. O-Electric Rooster Racing Stable, LLC; B-R. Larry Johnson (MD). The recent Laurel winner Day the Music Died is poetry in motion, literally. Don McLean is the author of the 1971 song and world hit "American Pie," whose most famous and often repeated verse is the refrain line "the day the music died." The song is supposedly about the plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll performers...

by Andrea Branchini BACCHANALIA (f, 4, Union Rags--Crazy Party, by A.P. Indy) Gulfstream Park, 1-30, Alw., 1 3/16mT, 1:52.74. B-Baumann Stables (KY). VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Bacchanalia, a daughter of Crazy Party, is a 4-year-old filly and is cleverly named. According to Wikipedia "The Bacchanalia were Roman festivals of Bacchus, the Greco-Roman god of wine, freedom, intoxication and ecstasy. They were based on the Greek Dionysia and the Dionysian mysteries, and probably arrived in Rome c. 200 BC via the Greek colonies in southern Italy, and from Etruria, Rome's northern...