Here is the origin of every horse’s name in the 2020 Kentucky Derby

UPDATE: This story was originally published before Finnick the Fierce was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Friday morning. So, please enjoy it in the spirit it was intended and hope for better days ahead for Finnick the Fierce and King Guillermo.

If 50-1 long shot Finnick the Fierce wins the Kentucky Derby, it won’t be the first time he defied the odds. His name is a tribute to his ability to reward faith.

Finnick the Fierce was born with a congenital cataract in one eye. When he was about seven months old, that eye had to be removed.

From this, a bond was formed between a horse and a college graduate who faced her own challenges. Paige Gilster, who graduated from Iowa State University in 2017 with a degree in animal science, had left everything familiar in her life to pursue a dream of working in the horse industry.

“Every time I hung out with ‘Finn,’ it was, like, ‘you’re having a hard time, too,’” said Gilster, a native of Kenyon, Minn. “His obstacles came at the same time that I was having some obstacles.

“He was kind of my constant reminder that, you know, if you work hard and just keep going day by day, things get better and things kind of work in your favor.”

Gilster and her father owned the dam, Southern Classic. With a foal on the way, Gilster excitedly picked out possible names. She wanted to name a chestnut colt “Nemo,” inspired by the Disney movie “Finding Nemo.”

But the newborn colt’s obvious eye problem made Gilster recoil from the name Nemo because the movie character had a damaged fin.

“I called Dad and said, we’ve got to name this foal,” Gilster said. “We’re not going to sell him and have someone name him ‘One-Eyed Wonder’ or ‘Uno.’ Because it was looking like the eye was going to come out.”

Gilster’s father asked what his daughter thought was a good name. She said she wanted a strong name. “Something fierce,” she said.

To this, her father said, “It needs to roll off the tongue when he comes down the stretch.”

The word “Finn,” Gilster said, “kind of resonated with me.”

Gilster, now an assistant manager at Lexington’s Timber Town Stable, plans to attend the Derby as a guest of Dr. Arnaldo Monge (pronounced Mon-Hay), the veterinarian who treated Finnick the Fierce and now is his owner.

“He’s such a special horse who has really made all our dreams come true,” Gilster said of Finnick the Fierce. “I mean, all the owners, the trainer, the breeder, it’s all of our first Derby start. He has justified all expectations.

“And I love that he’s going as a long shot.”

Origin stories

MAX PLAYER: Named for the player who gets a maximum contract in basketball. Owned by financial firm SportBLX Thoroughbreds. Former UK basketball player PJ Washington is a client and has a share in the horse. “In anticipation of PJ’s future stardom in the NBA, we thought it would be a nice name for a horse,” said George E. Hall, Executive Chairman of SportBLX (pronounced “sport blocks”), which is a platform launched in 2018 and aimed at people who want to invest in sports assets.

Hall is also the owner of Annestes Farm in Versailles.

About 700 people are invested in his Derby horse, Hall said. Opportunities to invest in Max Player will not close until 6:30 p.m. EDT Saturday.

MONEY MOVES: Owner Robert LaPenta was inspired at the 2019 Ocala, Fla., sales. After his winning bid was acknowledged, the Cardi B song, “Bodak Yellow,” played on the sound system. The lyrics include the words “money moves.” Said LaPenta: “We paid a lot of money for the horse, and listening to them sing that song, I said, ‘Well, let’s hope our money moves.’”

MR. BIG NEWS: Owner Chester Thomas said the horse’s stable mate, Mr. Money, ran well in 2019. “Hence, the mister theme,” he said. The word “big” is an acknowledgment of the horse’s sire, Giant’s Causeway. “I’m not sure where the ‘news’ comes from,” Thomas said. “I guess you could say we were hoping he’d make big news at some point.”

WINNING IMPRESSION: Owner Jeff Pearl said, “My daughter, who is a high schooler, this is the first horse she named. Her name is Rowan and in a nod to Winning Impression’s sire, who is Paynter, she picked a famous painter: Monet.” One of Monet’s most famous paintings is named Impression, Sunrise. “Thus the name,” Pearl said.

ATTACHMENT RATE: Owner Jim Bakke (pronounced Bock-key) is the president and CEO of Sub-Zero Group, Inc., which manufactures appliances. The term “attachment rate” is used in marketing to represent the number of units of a secondary product/service sold as a direct or implied consequence of the sale of a primary product/service.

NECKER ISLAND: Named for the private island in the British Virgin Islands. His original owner, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, was friends with Richard Branson, who owns Necker Island (the island, not the horse).

TIZ THE LAW: Sire was Constitution. Dam was Tizfiz, whose sire was Fiznow, whose sire was Cee’s Tizzy. Tiz is a family name.

AUTHENTIC: Peter Blum, who bred Authentic, is the one who named him and he thinks it’s a play off the name of the horse’s dam, Flawless.

HONOR A .P.: Sire was Honor Code, whose sire was 1992 Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy.

NY TRAFFIC: Originally called Linden Lane, a name owner John Fanelli did not like. Sire was Cross Traffic. Fanelli lives in northern New Jersey and must regularly deal with traffic in and around New York City that can make Nicholasville Road at rush hour look like a dead end street in a residential neighborhood.

KING GUILLERMO: Named for Guillermo Martinez, who was the father of one of the owners, former Major League baseball player Victor Martinez. The horse was scratched from the race Thursday afternoon because of a fever.

THOUSAND WORDS: Thousand Words was named because he cost $1 million as a yearling, and he was so good looking that they said, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

SOUTH BEND: Previous owner Kevin Plank is the founder of Under Armour, a company that manufactures footwear and sports and casual apparel. In 2014, it won the rights to outfit the Notre Dame football team. Plank, a Roman Catholic, is a lifelong fan of Notre Dame, which is located in South Bend, Ind.

ENFORCEABLE: Trainer Mark Casse said he did not think owner John Oxley was inspired by any Eureka moment in naming the horse. “He liked the name,” Casse said. “And it’s a strong name.”

MAJOR FED: Named for tennis star Roger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam singles winner.

STORM THE COURT: Sire was Court Vision. Dam was My Tejana Storm.

SOLE VOLANTE: The name means “flying sun” in Italian.

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 7:41 AM.

Jerry Tipton

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-472-4091

Jerry Tipton has covered Kentucky basketball beginning with the 1981-82 season to the present. He is a member of the United States Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame. Support my work with a digital subscription