April 30, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, April 29: Some new and interesting trends are emerging while naming a race-horse presently racing at the Lahore Racecourse. With no set rules followed in the racing countries all over the world, owners are free to choose names to their liking.

But the general practice in Europe and other countries abroad followed by owners is to combine first three letters of the names of father and mother while naming the progeny.

The names are reflective of owners, taste, liking and passion which varies from person to person.

Some take it seriously, others casually.

While going through the race cards of various countries one arrives at a conclusion that the options are varying from owners connected with lower to highest strata and very few stick to the general practice followed in the West.

In Lahore, some owners prefer to name their horses after royalties, internationally reputed personalities, showbiz celebrities, prominent cities, historical places and beauties such as Tipu Sultan, Alexander, Byron, Lovely Diana, Che Guera, Fidel Castro, Mumtaz Mahal, Silk Road, Amsterdam and Tora Bora.

In contrast, some owners opt for funny as well as interesting names such as Pawan, Cobbler, Chan and Chandni.

An owner, who trades in gold has been naming his horses connecting the word gold with the each name such as Daisy Gold, Flood Of Gold.

A stud owner prefers to put Royal as first name of his horses such as Royal Cannon, Royal Palace and Royal Command.

A former international hockey star names his horses reflecting his love with hockey, which gave him prominence.

He has named his horses as Penalty Corner, Penalty Push etc. A trader in carpets has named his horses after the characters of cartoon movies such as Scooby, Fido Dido, Little Mermaid.

Surprisingly there is an owner, who seems to be in love with the word "minister" as he has named all his horses combining word minister as second name such as Well Minister, Kind Minister, Love Minister and Honest Minister.

Perhaps he sees every human trait in the word minister.

However, the naming of race-horses is an unending story.—A.G.