by Barbaraanne Helberg

Created on: July 20, 2011   Last Updated: July 23, 2011

Over 30,000 Thoroughbred foals are born of American Stud Book registered parents each year. Registering and naming these youngsters to enter them into the world of Thoroughbred racing or breeding is a closely guarded process. Stud book registration is required within one year of a foal's reported birth, and all foals share an official month birth date of January 1st in order to keep racing divisions and records more easily in tact.

The first thing to consider in choosing a name for a new foal is the 18-letter rule. Eighteen letters only, with punctuation and spaces counting as one letter each, are permitted per each name. Imawildandcrazyguy was a name chosen in 2007 that guaranteed a message accompanied the foal's name. It was originally acceptable and avoided the space count to cleverly come in at the required 18 letters.    

In charge of new foal registration and name-choosing is The Jockey Club, a Thoroughbred organization that took over the American Stud Book in 1897. The Jockey Club of America recognizes Thoroughbred parentage in the stud book records of other countries in the interest of holding sanctioned international racing competition and sharing breeding procedures.

Requirements for New Foals:

Foals born of artificial insemination cannot be registered or named into official stud books. Genetic-typing and blood-typing are requirements of stud book registration. Both parents and foal are DNA tested.

Registration and naming of a new foal may be done at the same time, as long as the name requested meets the official list of rules. If the name is acceptable, The Jockey Club may waive a naming fee and charge only for the registration itself. A naming fee may also be waived if a name request has been filed before February 1st of the foal's second year and the name is determined to be ineligible. An eligible name reserved for a foal must be used (claimed) within one year of the reservation, or it will be released to be used by someone else.  

It is suggested that as many as six names per foal be submitted on the Name Claiming Form, as some may be rejected by the rules committee as unacceptable, or already taken.

The Name Game:

A foal cannot be named after a relative or a famous Thoroughbred racer or breeder. There will never be another Man o' War or Secretariat. Many times offspring of famous Thoroughbreds are assigned permissible connective

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