Author: admin

Anyone who has an ambition of owning a race horse must be excited to name it. I wonder what you would would name your thoroughbred? Think of all those horses which have won the biggest races, they were all named by someone and many have stories behind them.

One of the most famous race horses of our modern era is Frankel, trained by the late Sir Henry Cecil. This unbeaten horse, now a stallion who commands a fee of £350,000. Frankel was named after renowned American horse trainer Bobby Frankel. Sadly, one of the most successful trainers in the history of horse racing, passed away in 2009, a year before Frankel made his winning debut at Newmarket on the 13^th August 2010. Fittingly, he was named in memory of Robert Julian Frankel who passed away at the age of 68.

In the United Kingdom, for a horse to run under the rules of racing it must be registered with a unique name which remains with them for life, though it is possible for a horse’s name to be changed if sold and racing in another country. I specifically remember a horse trained by Bill Turner which won the Brocklesby Stakes and later sold to race in Hong Kong which changed its moniker. However, for the most part, race horses do not change their name.

We could of course say ‘What’s in a name’ anyway, but when we think of big races like the Grand National, it’s often a tactic of a layperson in betting to pick a name they like the sound of. Of course though, in more serious circles of professional gamblers and those who may have moved beyond the typical bookmaker and into bet broker territory, it’s less about the name and more the skill set to be able to place money on markets and sports events that can help you win big. This type of approach is especially common in Asian countries, but bet brokers exist worldwide to ensure you’re able to effortlessly bet with confidence through numerous bookmakers and exchanges through help of a trusted, tried and tested service. No account closures, just the ability to place no hastle bets big and small.

Weatherbys, which has interests in banking and horse racing, was founded in 1770 by James Weatherby and the organisation responsible for processing horse names. The actual process of naming and registering is processed within one working day. However, there are a number of rules to be followed when naming a racehorse.

These include:

– Your horse’s name must be a maximum of 18 character including spaces.

– Initials are not allowed.

– Names may not end with ‘filly, colt, mare, stallion, stud or similar terms.

– Names must not end with 1^st or 2^nd.

– You may not use the name of a real person without written permission or they have been death for 50 years.

– You may not use the name of a racecourse or graded race.

– Names must not have any commercial significance such as trademarks

– Names must not be suggestive, vulgar or obscene (although some have slipped through the net)

– Names shouldn’t be offensive relating to religious, ethnic or political groups.

– Horses shouldn’t be named after famous horses as a mark of respect.

– You must wait five years after a horse has retired or breeding to use its name again.

– All names are subject to approval by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

Internationally, over 3000 horse racing names are protected from use including Frankel and over 250,000 names are currently registered. For this reason, you should check the register to see if your chosen name is available before submitting your application. It is advisable to submit six names in order of preference. In the UK it’s The Jockey Club who choose which name is acceptable for use.

Many owners have submitted rather naughty names such as Ho Lee Fook, Cooking Fat and E Rex Sean, which were all turned down. Books have been written about it including David Ashforth’s Fifty Shades of Hay: The Extraordinary World of Racehorse Names.

It has been said that some of the biggest owners often give the most impressive names to their best horses. Perhaps this is a good way of finding a winner.

Horse racing in Britain is a cherished tradition, whose roots, as a professional sport, can be traced back to the first Plantaganet King of England, Henry II, during the twelfth century. The word ‘furlong’ is, in fact, centuries older still, having first been recorded in Anglo-Saxon England, at a time before the country was unified, as a single ‘English’ kingdom, in the first half of the tenth century.

‘Furlong’ is derived from the Old English word ‘furlang’, meaning ‘length of a furrow’, which, under the English open-field system was 40 rods, or 660 feet. The furlong remained an official unit of length in Britain, equal to 660 feet, or 220yards, such that the standard linear measurement, the mile, consisted of eight furlongs, until the traditional British Imperial System was replaced by the metric system in 1965.

Of course, Britain is still not fully metricated; road signs, for example, still use miles, fractions of a mile and yards. Nevertheless, the furlong has largely fallen out of favour anywhere outside the world of horse racing, where it remains a standard measurement of distance. On the racecourses, marker posts count back the number of furlongs from the winning post and races shorter than a mile are described exclusively in furlongs on racecards and in the racing press. Longer races may be described in miles, fractions of a mile, or miles and furlongs as appropriate.

The ‘archaic’ furlong is, of course, the equivalent of approximately 201 metres and, apart from tradition, there is no practical reason why British horse races could not be measured in metres, as they are in France and elsewhere in Europe. ‘Tradition is a guide, not a jailer’, wrote William Somerset Vaughan, but, despite some trials, the adoption of metric race distance looks unlikely any time soon.

The principal role of a thoroughbred racehorse trainer is to produce each horse in peak physical condition on raceday, so that it is capable of performing to the best of its ability. However, certain horses, for a variety of reasons, including immaturity, or ‘greenness’, lack of concentration, laziness or just plain roguishness, may need an extra incentive to produce their best form. Under such circumstances, a trainer may opt for headgear, in the form of blinkers, cheekpieces or visor, in an effort to sharpen up a horse and maximise its potential.

Blinkers are semi-circular, usually leather or plastic, cups that are attached to the bridle and restrict peripheral vision, such that the horse focuses on what is happening to the front, rather than to either side or to the rear. To inexperienced horses, racecourse surroundings may prove raucous and distracting, so the application of blinkers may help them to remain calm and collected in the preliminaries and fully attentive in the race itself.

Cheekpieces, and a visor, for that matter, are similar in principle to blinkers insofar as they restrict peripheral vision, albeit to a lesser degree. Cheekpieces, which, as the name suggests, consist of two strips of sheepskin or similar material attached to the bridle, are the least restritive form of headgear and are used primarily as a aid to concentration. A visor is similar to blinkers, but with the addition of eye slits, which afford a small degree of peripheral vision, such that a horse is ‘comforted’ by the presence of its rivals during a race.

In simple terms, ‘overround’, usually expressed as a percentage, is the profit margin deliberately factored into bookmakers’ odds, such that they make a profit on an event, regardless of the outcome. In a fairly weighted, ’round’ betting market, the odds for each outcome, when converted to percentages, add up to 100%. Of course, bookmakers are in the profit business, so it is not in their interest to offer odds that reflect the true probability of each outcome. Instead, they adjust the odds – by how much depends on the bookmaker, the event and the specific market – to create an ‘overround’ book, thereby creating an edge in their favour.

The higher the book percentage rises above 100%, the greater the edge for the bookmaker. Consider a simple coin toss, such as that, say, at the start of the Super Bowl. Obviously, there are just two possible outcomes, heads or tails, with a 50:50, or even money, chance of winning. Bookmakers, though, may offer not even money, or 1/1, but rather 10/11, on either outcome, thereby factoring in a profit margin of around 5%; a book so weighted is described as ‘105% overround’.

Of course, on very rare occasions – as rare as hen’s teeth – bookmakers do make a mistake and create a book in which the total percentages add up to less than 100%. In such an ‘underround’, or ‘overbroke’, book, the layers hand the edge back to bettors, by however far the total percentage is below 100%.