Horse Racing Fantasy Community

The name Secretariat already exists. Do you know the story behind that name? It's actually quite funny. Secretariat was named by his owner's secretary. After several attempts to register a name, the task was finally left with the secretary, who cleverly came up with the name Secretariat. I love talking to owners and asking them how they came up with the names for their horses. The great champion who recently passed away, Vindication, was named specifically because his owner finally felt vindicated for spending so much money breeding and raising thoroughbreds. They just knew that this horse was going to be a champion and thus the name Vindication.

Think how great it would be if you could enter a horse's name somewhere and not only find out who the owner is/was, but also find out in their own words how they came up with that name. Small owners and racing farms have a tendency to take their time when naming their babies. Bigger farms tend to leave the horse un-named until the horse is sold as either a weanling or a yearling. The concept here is that people love to name their horses, especially race horses. There have been plenty of times I know of personally that a horse was not puchased because the potential buyer or bidder at the auction just did not like the name.

As we continue to build out our community and new features in both the community and the game, we're trying to personalize things more and more. One great way to personalize the game to fit who you are is to give you the ability to name the next great thoroughbred champion (or at least you hope he/she is the next great champion). As part of the trainer game, which is well into development, there is a cool component that gives you the ability to instantly search our database of all the horses in our game, both community/fictional horses as well as past champions. So, when you're in the Shop and you're breeding Ghostzapper to Zenyatta, you're going to have the opportunity to name that offspring. Adding this personal touch really allows you to bond with your virtual horse from the day you acquire him/her. I personally know that it's going to be a lot of fun using the name checker to make sure that the name is available before I add that horse to my racing stable.

We are spending more and more time evaluating what makes the sport of racing so personal. When we talk to jockeys, trainers and owners, there's a commitment to the sport - a bond - that we can't even explain. To some of these owners, their horse(s) are the most important things in their lives. Winning the Kentucky Derby or a Breeders' Cup champion race has the same appeal as actually being a star quarterback and winning the 2009 Superbowl. As we continue to identify and develop all of these cool components, we will add them. There's a whole bunch of new components in the new version to come out soon.

So, start practicing with those names. Our game will require that you follow the same parameters that the Jockey Club uses. Put your thinking caps on and come up with the next perfect name for your champion thoroughbred!

- Twinberry73