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: NOMENCLATURE OF THE THOROUGHBRED. "How many race goers have given heed to the names of the thoroughbreds that carried the silks of their owners on the turf?" writes John Bodcn, former secretary of the New York State Racing Commission. "Yet there is scarcely anything else that so taxes the ingenuity of breeders and of owners. T. find a name that will recall ancestry Is no small labor under the unwritten law that names of winners of classic races shall not be duplicated and the inflexible rule that no name of a horse that has been upon the turf shall be be duplicated within five years after his retirement or after his death. "That this rule should be enforced with rigid insistence, the Jockey Club instituted a registry office. The use of names suggesting trades or business enterprises was "prohibited. Those that might recall some untoward event were equally anathema. Thost that might invite criticism were also tabooed, and many and often were the rejections of names of year lings that infringed ou either the written or the unwritten code of ethics. "And this, too, without respect to the character, pride or place of owners. The writer recalls a case in which a name for u yearling was suggested by a steward of the Jockey Club. It was in the days of sensational Investigation into one of the great departments of New York City. The name was rejected by. the registrar. It was a colt by Inspector IS. out of Bribery and 4he name asked for was that of a then prominent city official. The steward appealed to the Jockey Club. His appeal was dismissed. The Jockey Club having put the plenitude of power into the hands of the registrar would not recall that power and one of its own stewards was overruled. "Some owners have paid sums in the thousuuds to men who would name their yearlings appropriately. Some breeders- had a distinct plan. The first August Belmont, for example, and his son, the present head of the Jockey Club, went upou a policy the result of which was that the colt foals bore a name suggesting their paternity, and the fillies ones that would recall their dams. Hence in the fillies there were Latly Kosobery. Lady Margaret, Lady Rosemary and Rosetint, recalling the great Lady Blessing, and on the colt end were St. Carlo and a host of others. From the great mare Susquehanna was Potomac, winner of the Futurity. Then there was Donna Mia, out of Bella Donua, and a half score more, the very names of which suggest their breeding. "James R. Keene, too, has been peculiarly solict-ous about the names of his foals. There was Cap and Bells out of Domino and also Disguise, and then Celt by Voter, Maid of Erin, and Peter Pan out nf Cinderella, and others that have made famous the great stud at Castleton. "The late John A. Morris and the late Captain Sam Brown of Pittsburgh also paid particular atten tion to appropriate nomenclature. Mr. Morris started his stud with the famous Barbarity and from it there came a series of names that needed not the colors of the all scarlpt to indicate whence they came or; to whom they belonged. "Captain Brown was peculiarly sensitive about the names of his colts, and hence from Spendthrift there came Bankrupt and Authoress, and from En quirer there sprang Reporter and other horses almost as appropriately named. Then there was the line that gave the turf Cortcz and Senorita and other tine colts and fillies. Perhaps Hastings, the well-enough named son of Spendthrift, called after the prodigal English Earl, was one that was least recognized as being appropriately tabbed, but as a rule bar his best son, Kingston Spendthrift left behind him a progeny that suggested their descent by their names. "A year or two later came upon the turf a fad, and that was the naming of horses after society friends. The Fleischmanns, multi-millionaires of the middle West, started it. It was the superstition of the east and the west alike that a hoodoo attached thereto. There was at that time only two signal examples that may have proved the rule. They were Luke Blackburn, that Mike Dwyer insisted was the best horse he ever owned, and Proctor Knott, winner of the first Futurity. Later there was Jack Atkin. But Luke Blackburn had failed in races that were conceded to him, and Proctor Knott won the Futurity from Salvator only through an inexplicable error. It was Fresno and not Salvator, that should have met him. "The Fleischmanns, naming their horses after society friends in Cincinnati, were disappointed, and following them came Gideon and Daly a firm that in their day hurled paving stones in the form of thousand dollar blocks into the ring. They lost, with Kcenan, named after the city chamberlain; with Eakin, named after the sporting editor of a metropolitan daily, and Dr. Rice, in whose naming Mr. Gideon designed to pay special compliment to a friend. In other hands they prospered, Kcenan hav ing distinguished success in England and in India. But ever and always, save in ordinary races, horses named after individuals had but mediocre success. "In this year there has been a variety of anro-priate names recorded by the Jockey Club. There is. for example. Accumulate, a colt by Gatherer, and one named Bwaiio Tuuibo. This latter colt, owned by a man in Canada, is out of tne mare Affect. There is Franchise, by Voter, and Moisant, out of the marc Ascension. Conflagration Is appropriately named, as she is out of Ashes, and The Persian has no fault to find,- as he is out of Babylonian. Cheat is out of The Sharper, and Gay Bird is b3 Oiseau Belle of the Day. "Play Mate is assuredly a filly by P.eter Pan and Spring Board is by Aeronaut, out of that always athletic mare, Bettie Bouncer. Cock Crow is by Peep oDay; Forty Niner out of California and the filly Bad Witness out of Cant Remember. Mistress Marjory, that had a fair success on the turf and was mated with Dolce Far Niente produces Devil-May-Care and Abel is the result of the mating of Adam and Naughty Lady. "Paying Teller is tne .son of City Bank, and Good Morning the sou of Peep oDay. Right on the heels of these comes two registered fillies. One, named Needy, is the daughter of Luck and Charity, and the other, out of the same dam, is named Bayefoot. Better named, perhaps, if they had been daughters of Charity alone. A colt out of Proposal is named Dout Say No. At the same farm is Repletion, by Yankee, out of Surfeit, and Snarl, by Yankee, out of Taugle. "A wag of a breeder has named a colt out of Subway. Darkness, and a filly out of Halcyon, Tranquility. There is a colt by Adam out of Handspun that is called Paradise; one by Nimrod named Huu-, ter; a filly out of Hatred by Conquerer that must race as Wrath and then a slashing big bay colt by Martinet that has been called Editor. It might be telling tales out of school if it was written that the name of this colt, because of his sire, wa" uuani inously agreed upon by the turf editors of the New York dailies. Seventeen years ago they agreed upon calling a gray colt Editor and he made good. And they never were quite satisfied with the result. Mayhap this Editor out of Martinet may more agreeably live up to the thought that induced the name. "Top Notcher is an appropriately named colt out of High Stepper and Free and Easy suggests his dam Lady Golightly. The maternity of Steeplejack is evidenced by the name of his mother, out of Reach, as is that of Deduction, which is out of Inference. The daughter of the blueblooded Lady Languish is, of course. Lady Paramount, while Blarney Stone, said to be one of the choicest of th Castleton 2-year-olds, is out of Maid of Erin, the mother of the redoubtable Celt. "There is, perhaps, a dash of cynicism In the bestowal of the name of Dr. Cook upon a colt by Previ ous. Gold Brick is by The Sharper. The Scout by The Picket, and, naturally enough in these days of deduction, Monkey will perpetuate tne fame of her dam. Missing Link. Toggery is a daughter of Teas Over and Evening Star is the title chosen for the progeny of the sweet young mare Vespers. Bachelor Girl is doubly appropriate, as she is a filly by Broom stick out of Wayward Lass. Killarney Lass is by Irish Lad and the fillv out of Soubrette has been named Stage Girl. "There would seem to be resentment, begotten, perhaps, of disappointment, at some election, in the selection of the name Booby for a son of Voter and just a trifle of lese majeste in bestowing the name of Diplomatist on the son of Go Between. Three Links suggests Oddfellow as the si- and Night Dress recalls her dam, Dishabille. Sprite, out of Fairie Queen. Ocean Blue out of Flying Ship, and Bow Knot by Knight of the Garter out of Frills rank well up in the list of names well chosen."
