naming a horse

? If a horse is purchased at a claiming race, is it possible that I would have the ability to rename the horse? Since the beginning of my hopes and dream of having my own throughbred, I have had a name that I would very much like to give my horse.

Also, it appears to me that there are other breeds running in the races such as Quarter Horses, is this correct or am I seeing other types of throughbreds?


- You can only name or rename a horse if it has not yet raced, so that means a weanling, yearling or two year old that you buy privately or at auction.

It's fun to speculate on a young horse that hasn't raced yet, but also very risky because you don't know it's ability yet and young horses tend to have physical problems along the way that hold up training and cost the owners in time and vet bills. There is no guarantee that a young horse will ever make the races at all.

It's also risky to claim a horse but I would recommend starting with a cheap claimer (or inexpensive 2 year old in training) and wait on the horse that you will name yourself until after you have learned the ropes a bit. A horse that is already racing or at least has shown some kind of form on the track in training will give you some confidence of it's ability.

If you want your own horse, your trusted trainer can certainly find you a young one that is within your budget that you can name and follow through their road to the races. It's important that you tell your trainer what your budget is upfront because they can present you with horses priced from $5000 up to $100,000 or more.

Quarter horse racing looks fun to me also but I don't know much about it. I do believe that all the things I've told you apply to other breeds as well as thoroughbreds. I recommend thoroughbreds because the return on investment is best with them in my opinion.