Kentucky Derby 2024: How Sierra Leone, Honor Marie, Dornoch and other horses got names
Littleton, Colorado, is a town of about 46,000 that’s part of the Denver metropolitan area. Though it’s not widely known, Littleton is where horse owner Harry Veruchi was raised. He carries the pride of his hometown with him and used the name of the street he grew up on, West Saratoga Place, to name one of his horses, West Saratoga.
Veruchi initially wanted to name the horse Harley, but the name was rejected, so he took a sentimental approach. Whether it’s an ode to their hometown, a family member or the horse’s genealogy, every owner has a different process for naming their horse.
Here’s the origin of the other Derby horses’ names:
Epic Ride
Named in honor of James "Woody" Welch, one of the founders of Welch Racing who dreamed of having a Derby horse but died Oct. 6, 2022, from illness at age 78. During his final weeks, Welch Racing co-founder George Hough said Welch referred to his life as an "epic ride."
Catching Freedom
Catching Freedom’s name is a clever play on his parents, Constitution and Catch My Drift, according to the Kentucky Derby website.
Forever Young
Dam is Forever Darling.
Stronghold
Named because of horse's strong, robust look as a foal.
Dornoch
Name is a reference to the Royal Dornoch Golf Club in the Scottish Highlands, according to the Kentucky Derby website.
Just a Touch
Sire is Justify; dam is Touching Beauty.
Just Steel
Sire is Justify.
Sierra Leone
Named after the country in Africa and its rich, cultural history. Sierra Leone was a trading post for Europe, so the name also is a nod to the nationalities of the horse's ownership group, which includes Irish, English, German and American individuals.
Honor Marie
Name is a tribute to the granddaughter of owners Alan and Kerry Ribble; Honor Marie’s sire is Honor Code and dam is Dame Marie.
Catalytic
Sire is Catalina Cruiser.
Mystik Dan
Named in honor of breeder Daniel Hamby III’s father, Dan, whose first business venture was selling Mystik Tape, according to the Daily Racing Form.
Domestic Product
Dam is Goods and Services.
Grand Mo the First
Sire is Uncle Mo.
T O Password
All of Tomoya Ozasa’s horses carry his initials.
Track Phantom
Named after the handicap horse racing website, Track Phantom.
Society Man
Name is based on a conversation from 1968 between former President Lyndon B. Johnson and former Georgia Gov. Carl Sanders in which Johnson poked fun at Sanders for not knowing how to spell "tuxedo," part of the name of the street on which Sanders lived. “Then President Johnson interrupted Governor Sanders and said, ‘Carl, you're having (a) little trouble spelling that tuxedo. I figured society man like you, you old-town dog, knew all about those kinds of things,’” said West Paces Racing's Keith Mason, whose group owns Society Man.
Resilience
Named as an ode to a character trait that the owner’s family embodied at that time.
Endlessly
Named as a play on parents, Oscar Performance and Dream Fuhrever, to create the phrase “endlessly dreaming of an Oscar performance.”
Fierceness
Owner Mike Repole said he names his horses after “qualities and personalities that I surround myself with.” Fierceness stuck because of how the horse races and works.
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How Sierra Leone, Dornoch, other Kentucky Derby horses got their names
