The name of brilliant 1-21 Aqueduct winner A LONGLONGTIMEAGO  (c, 3, Maclean's Music–Carried Away, by Dixie Union) is another direct quotation from Don McLean's 1971 legendary song “American Pie”–just like DAY THE MUSIC DIED, another winning horse by Maclean's Music commented upon in this column. In the case of the name of this brave 3-year-old [...]

BLACK MAGIC WOMAN, 1-7-21 winner at Gulfstream. Dam: DAZZLING SONG. BLACK MAGIC WOMAN is a 1968 song which became a world-famous hit in a 1970 Santana arrangement, even if it was a Fleetwood Mac number originally. 6th-Gulfstream, $40,000, Msw, 1-7, 4yo/up, f/m, 1m, 1:36.42, ft, 3 3/4 lengths. BLACK MAGIC WOMAN (f, 4, Uncle Mo–Dazzling [...]

IRON MEN OF METZ (Added Edge) won on this side of the Atlantic at Mahoning Valley, and ARNOUL OF METZ (Kyllachy {GB}) won at “caput mundi” Wolverhampton in England. The “Iron Men of Metz” is the nickname given to the 95th Infantry Division of the US Army, who battled the Germans in WW2 to liberate [...]

6th-Wolverhampton, £20,000, Cond, 1-4, 4yo/up, f/m, 7f 36y (AWT), 1:26.70, st. AMNIARIX (f, 4, Speightstown–Bold Lass {Ire}, by Sea the Stars {Ire}) Lifetime Record: 5-3-0-1, $29,465. O/B-Bjorn Nielsen (KY); T-Ed Walker. The recent Wolverhampton female winner Amniarix is out of a mare named Bold Lass and her namesake was indeed a very brave young woman. [...]

Kudos to whoever was creative and subtle enough to name GERVAIS a horse by DISTORTED HUMOR. The winner of a handicap race at Meydan last week has just that almost risqué name. English actor Ricky Gervais is the creator of The Office, a TV program that stretched the borders of mainstream humor in the UK [...]

Mad Roman Emperor Caligula tried to make his favorite horse INCITATUS a consul, according to legend–and the accounts of maybe partisan historians Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Clearly aware of this spectacular milestone of executive overreach, Dante Zanelli's wife Yolanda Del Rosario gave the Italian version of the name–INCITATO–to the colt by GOLDENCENTS out ZABEEL SARAY [...]

3rd-Fontainebleau, €22,000, Mdn, 11-12, unraced 2yo, f, 9fT, 1:58.95, sf. OMNIA MUNDA MUNDIS (GB) (f, 2, Australia {GB}–Regina Mundi {Ire} {SP-Ity}, by Montjeu {Ire}) Sales history: €190,000 Ylg '19 ARAUG. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, €11,000. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. 1ST-TIME STARTER. O/B-San Paolo Agri-Stud SRL (GB); T-Fabrice Chappet. Omnia Munda Mundis could be translated from Latin [...]

The winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf was named by her fortunate owner after a Sardinian wine company, according to her trainer–the great James Fanshawe of Pegasus Stables in Newmarket. Among the wines that the Audarya winery produces are their versions of the increasingly popular Cannonau (red, goes well with red [...]

There is a lot of African geography in the background of 2-year-old Khartoum (Pioneerof the Nile-Up (Ire), by Galileo {Ire}). Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, is where the Blue Nile (from Lake Tana in Ethiopia) and the White Nile (from Lake Victoria) meet and unite, forming a greater river. “From there [Khartoum], the Nile continues [...]

6th-Pimlico, $50,120, Msw, 9-24, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.88, ft. WHISKEY AND RYE (f, 2, Maclean's Music–Ava G, by Afternoon Deelites) Sales history: $150,000 2yo '20 EASMAY. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $25,200. O-Mens Grille Racing; B-Alex Venneri Racing, LLC (KY); T-Hamilton A. Smith. The brave 2-year-old winning filly WHISKEY AND RYE carries another ingenious name derived from [...]

Literary references are not rare in horse racing, and 2yo winner Bold Mistress (Vronsky–Common Truth) carries a precious such connection, linked to the GOAT (probably) writer Lev Tolstoy. Unhappily married Anna Karenina is in fact the absolutely bold mistress of Count Vronsky in the Russian novelist's book of the same name. “Many writers consider 'Anna [...]

6th-Churchill Downs, $101,097, Alw, 9-5, (NW1X), 3yo/up, 7f, 1:21.41, ft. SIR ALFRED JAMES (g, 4, Munnings–Super Phoebe, by Malabar Gold) The Ashford stallion Munnings (by Speightstown out of La Comete) and his winning son SIR ALFRED JAMES (out of Super Phoebe) represent a welcome return to the old tradition of giving painters' names to racehorses. [...]