ON DECK: In regards to racehorses' names

I've always been fascinated with the names of racehorses.

Part of the fun of watching the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes is reading all the funky names that people come up with for their racehorse. While working on a story about a pair of racehorse owners, I found out one way that people name them: by combining part of the name of the mare (mother) and part of the name of the sire (father).

Also interesting is the restrictions the Jockey Club put on naming a horse. It can't be longer than 18 letters. No name made up of initials. No use of “filly,” “colt,” “stud,” “mare,” “stallion” or any similar horse-related term and many more prohibitions.

For three days out of the year, I become a bandwagon horse racing fan. One of the items on my bucket list is to go to Churchill Downs for a Kentucky Derby — for the mint juleps, the big hats and people's lives being made on a race that's 1-1/4 miles long.

But mostly, to see horses named Daddy Nose Best, Bodemeister and Daddy Long Legs.