Linda Blackford: How did every horse in the 2025 Kentucky Derby get its name?

Nearly every year since 2010, I have written a story about how all the horses in the Kentucky Derby get their names, and you can probably guess which one will lead my lineup in 2025.

That’s right ... Journalism. In a landscape of shrinking newsrooms, misinformation, threats and lawsuits, it’s a thrill to see a horse named by someone who thinks journalism is, well, pretty cool.

Owner Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners said he’s always tried to mimic the Claiborne Farm tradition of one word names that hearken back to the horse’s pedigree.

“Curlin’s (the sire) are hard to name, so we opted to go off the dam’s name, Nepotism, so we wanted a named that ended in “ism,” Wellman said in an email. “I was the sports editor of my high school newspaper and am accused of being a disgruntled sports writer!

“Journalism has always been in my blood and I admire responsible and creative journalists.”

There will be some heavy betting on this horse from this newsroom, and lots of others, I’m sure.

“I find it poignant that in this day and age when the truth is so hard to discern in today’s (social) media that all eyes will be on a horse named Journalism for the Kentucky Derby should all continue to go well,” Wellman said.

Amen to that.

In addition to Journalism, we have Publisher this year. No special story, said part owner Bret Jones of Airdrie Stud. The co-owner, Gus Young, just liked it.

Naming horses is a craft and an art, and it’s surprisingly difficult.

The Jockey Club, which registers all thoroughbreds and oversees naming, has plenty of rules, most notably that two active racehorses can’t have the same name. With 450,000 names in the database, you’d be surprised how often names get rejected. Once a horse stops racing for five years, the name is put back into circulation unless it has reached a certain level of success as defined by the Jockey Club (such as horses in racing’s Hall of Fame, that have won an Eclipse Award, or have won $2 million or more). Other rules include a limit of 18 characters, no famous people and nothing vulgar.

Like Journalism, many names are tributes.

Rodriguez, who was scratched from the Derby on Thursday evening, is named in honor of American musician Sixto Rodriguez in the film “Searching for Sugar Man,” not former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, as many have assumed, the Paulick Report said.

Baeza, the also-eligible horse who replaced Rodriguez in the Derby field, was also named after a former athlete, retired Hall of Fame jockey Braulio Baeza.

Everyone assumes that the beautiful gray Sandman is named for the Metallica song, “Enter Sandman.” So much so that Metallica sent the horse’s entire crew some merch.

It’s sort of true, said owner Jonathan Green. One of the horse’s other owners is a big fan of former Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, who always entered the game with that song playing. But also Sandman really fit this horse.

“He’s a big, gorgeous horse, almost a dream,” Green said. “We felt it was a great name because he’s everything you’d want.

Green, owner and manager of DJ Stables, loves the name game. They currently have a filly, who someone described as “breathing different air.” So they named her Nitrogen.

And his all-time favorite is the progeny of Ice Capade and Sweeping Beauty ... thus Zamboni.

That’s the fun of it. I was researching another story and came across a horse born in 1951 named A Tale of Two Cities, sired by Tehran and out of Merida.

That’s the way a lot of owners go. This year, we have Chunk of Gold, whose dam is Play for Gold. Her dam was Gold N Shaft and her sire Mineshaft. Gold N Shaft’s dam was Gold N Delicious.

Tiztastic is sired by Tiz the Law. Coal Battle is sired by Coal Front. Built is by Hard Spun. Luxor Cafe references an Egyptian city because he is sired by American Pharoah. Render Judgment is sired by Blame. Neoequos’ sire is Neolithic.

Flying Mohawk is sired by Karakontie. Owner Jayson Werth, a former MLB player said Karakontie is a Mohawk word that means flying sun burning across the sky.

Grande is owned by water and sports drink magnate Mike Repole, who said he loves Italian names like Forte and Vino Rosso, two of his previous horses. Grande means big in Italian.

The horse was training well and he thought he could be his BIG horse this year, Repole said in an email.

Big racing operations often throw open the names to employees in yearly contests. That’s how Final Gambit got his name, according to Juddmonte Farm Manager Garrett O’Rourke.

That’s also true for Godolphin, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum’s global operation, which has two horses running in the Derby this year.

Vicky Van Camp is racing research coordinator for Darley, Godolphin’s American branch here in Lexington. Sovereignty is a nod to his dam, Crown, which was the idea of stallion accountant Mary Beth Moore. East Avenue is where the Saratoga training facility is located in New York, a suggestion that came from Emma Browne Lovatt, the racing office manager.

Van Camp says Darley usually has about 100 2-year-olds to be named. They send around a worksheet to all the employees that lists the horses and pedigrees. This year, 1,248 names were submitted. They are then checked against the Jockey Club, and against the Sheikh’s other operations in Europe, Japan, Australia and Dubai.

“We’ve gone through 15,000 names in 10 years to get 1,000 names,” she said. “It’s fun.” The top administrators at Darley make the final selections.

Van Camp herself named Frosted, a steel-gray colt by Tapit out of Fast Cookie, who now stands at Darley. Another favorite is C’est Cheese by City of Light out of Brienza.

Sometimes names are kind of random. Burnham Square is a quilting pattern used by the daughter-in-law of the horse’s owner, Janis Whitham, according to BloodHorse.

Junko Kondo owns Admire Daytona. Her late husband, Riichi, was famous for naming his horses with the “Admire” prefix.

Citizen Bull is owned by George Soros’ racing operation, SF Racing. Racing manager Tom Ryan was looking at Citizen Bullhead watches.

“I was looking at luxury watches, Citizen Bullhead watches,” Ryan told the Daily Racing Form. “I didn’t like the name Citizen Bullhead” — for a horse — “and I didn’t like the name Bullhead” for a horse.”

But Citizen Bull worked.

One of American Promise’s owners, Brian Coelho, said naming horses is a challenge.

“You want a good solid name, catchy but not too edgy, because if that horse does do well, the name goes along with its stud life,” he said by phone from California, shortly before he left for Louisville.

BC Stables — his partnership with his friend John Bellinger — got its start with a filly named Summer Promise, who they both loved.

“We’re both strong patriots and love America and believe in good things America can do even through our rocky times,” he said. So between that and their favorite filly, American Promise fit the bill perfectly.