
Could this year’s Triple Crown series somehow be an allegory for current events? A thoroughbred named Journalism—its name referencing an honorable profession that, at its best, represents accuracy, fairness, the elimination of bias and a prohibition against making things up—finishes runner-up in the Kentucky Derby to Sovereignty—whose moniker screams authoritarianism.
Then, at the Preakness, with Sovereignty off somewhere else—Saudi Arabia? Qatar? United Arab Emirates?—Journalism prevails despite a roughhousing stretch run in which he appears to be fouled by ponies on either side of him yet threads the needle and slingshots to victory. The two adversaries who nearly erase him are Goal Oriented and Clever Again, but may as well have been called Truth Social and X.
Running too far with this metaphor? When Sovereignty, after accepting the gift of a day off at the Preakness, returns for the upcoming Belmont Stakes on June 7, Journalism is expected to be there. And perhaps the winner of that race will offer some hint into where we all are headed. (But with the weird possibility that some gaslighting exercise could label Journalism to be Fake News.)
Yes, it’s just horseracing. In those strict terms, at this point, Journalism has been ranked by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll as the sport’s top 3-year-old, with Sovereignty second. And there will be at least five other ponies contending for the Belmont title.
There already have been plenty of comments on the presence of Journalism—with the eponymous industry lately being hobbled—in these high-visibility events. Is Journalism “overrated”? Can Journalism “write his way into horse racing history”? as the website BloodHorse asked before the Derby.
The Washington Post asked, “Can Journalism (the horse) give a boost to journalism (the industry)?” After the nag’s second-place finish in the Derby, observations included “journalism doesn’t pay,” “A dark day for journalism,” “The year is 2025 and journalism officially has been defeated.”
Remarks, by the way, very possibly conjured by the wordsmiths we know as journalists (of which I was one for a half-century).
Meanwhile, on a less symbolic, less unsettling level and skipping any leanings toward a parable, there is the interesting process of finding a good name for a racehorse. Journalism was named by co-owner Aron Wellman, who told several publications that he had “often been accused of being a disgruntled sportswriter because of all the writing I do” for the Eclipse weekly newsletter he founded after a law career. “So journalism is something that I value very much, and I appreciate responsible and diligent journalists.”
Wellman had long ago been sports editor of his high school newspaper in Beverly Hills, Calif., and believed “good horses should have good names.” Certainly, arriving at a name—one not already among the hundreds of thousands registered with the Jockey Club—can be a challenge.
There are all sorts of rules in that game. No using names currently on the Jockey Club’s “permanent” list, which not only covers winners of races in the Triple Crown series but also famous horses in popular culture. There will never be another Secretariat or American Pharoah. Or Black Beauty. Or Silver. Or Trigger.
Names of living persons are allowed only with written permission from that person. There can be no names with clear commercial significance, and the name must be limited to 18 characters—including spaces between words. (In the case of a horse named Twitter, the thoroughbred’s christening in 1992 preceded the creation of the social networking service by 14 years.)
Also verboten are names that are suggestive or vulgar, in poor taste or offensive to specific groups. (It must be noted that a few risqué monikers have slipped by the name police, the less racy among them being Boxers or Briefs and Hoochiecoochiemama.)
There is plenty of creativity involved—sly puns, nutty combinations, references to the horse’s pedigree or to present-day doings. Not surprisingly, the wider world of sports regularly is mined, so there have been thoroughbreds called Three Pointer and Slam Dunk, Hat Trick, Home Run, Touchdown. Also, playing on marquee athletes without appropriating their full names, there has been an A Rod, an Eli and a Peyton. And a Le Brown James.
So let’s say you have $825,000 to spare, the amount it had cost to buy Journalism at the 2023 yearling sale, and you’re looking for a catchy name. Something memorable. Maybe you could go for a tag that speaks to the racehorse’s lot in life. There has been a Trotsky, a Meal Ticket, a Don’t Look Back, a Long Shot, a Wishful Thinking.
Another source of potential names could be songs dealing with the Sport of Kings.
I’ve got the horse right here
His name is Paul Revere
….from the tune Fugue for Tinhorns in the 1955 Broadway Show “Guys and Dolls.” Paul Revere, in fact, is on the Jockey Club’s permanent list. The “Race Is On,” a 1964 country hit by George Jones, presented possibilities in mimicking a track announcer’s race call to detail romantic relationships….
Now the race is on
And here comes Pride down the backstretch,
Heartache’s goin’ to the inside,
My Tears are holdin’ back,
They’re tryin’ not to fall.
My Heart’s out of the runnin’
True Love’s scratched for another’s sake.
The race is on and it looks like Heartache
And the winner loses all.
Sure enough, Pride was accepted by the Jockey Club in 2006, Heartache in 2014, True Love in 1993. That does leave My Tears and My Heart.
There have been sobriquets that address racing’s tendency toward excitement and surprise. Zoot Alors and the Anglicized version of that expression, Holy Smoke. Also, Magic Carpet Ride. Dog and Pony Show. Eat My Dust.
So let’s say I have an extra $825,000 on hand—now that’s Wishful Thinking—and am inclined to name my imaginary horse friend with a nod to my many years in journalism. There was a Suddenbreakingnews in the 2016 Derby. There has been a Headliner, a Wordsmith and a Rewrite, even a Laptop Computer. I might have liked Inkstained Wretch.
Meanwhile, I’ll just root for Journalism (capital and small ‘j.’)