DETROIT TESORO may not sound as an operatic name for this winning filly, but it is. The dam is Bella Traviata and Giuseppe Verdi's “La Traviata” is the ideal opera for some, and definitely one of the most popular. The most famous song (romanza) of “La Traviata” is “Parigi O Cara” “Paris, Oh Dear”. I [...]

Street + street = intersection. This is the formula for the brilliant and ingenious name of a recent US-bred winner in Japan. The 5-year-old INTERSECTION is by Street Cry (Ire) out of Vine Street. Wordplay at its low-key best. INTERSECTION (JPN), h, 5, Street Cry (Ire)–Vine Street (Ire), by Singspiel (Ire). Kyoto, 5-10, Plate Race, [...]

There are so many overtones from the land of the Czars in the pedigree of brilliant South Australian Derby winner Russian Camelot (Ire), by the hot Coolmore stallion Camelot. His dam is Lady Babooshka (Russian for grandmother), his granddam is Balalaika (the Russian triangular string instrument), his 2-year-old full-sister is named Russian Camilla. Insightful and [...]

1st-Tampa Bay Downs, $20,000, Msw, 4-25, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:18.28, gd. BOURBON REBELLION (f, 3, Shanghai Bobby–Soul of Bourbon, by Perfect Soul {Ire}). The Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-94 was mostly a Pennsylvania affair, but only because no one was found to collect the infamous tax on whiskey in Kentucky (the state was admitted to [...]

10th-Oaklawn, $60,000, Msw, 4-19, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:09.96, sy. MERNEITH (f, 3, American Pharoah–Flattermewithroses {SW}, by Flatter) With American Pharoah and Cairo Prince around, one would naturally expect Egyptian choices to be popular in the naming of horses, but the name of Oaklawn winner MERNEITH is really outstanding and fitting. She is a filly by [...]

MEYDAN CLASSIC (SPONSORED BY MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM CITY-DISTRICT ONE)-Listed, $175,000, Meydan, 2-27, NH3yo & SH3yo, 1600mT, 1:35.87, gd. 1–WELL OF WISDOM (GB), 126, c, 3, by Oasis Dream (GB)–Alessandria (GB), by Sunday Silence. O/B-Godolphin (GB); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. The name of the recent listed winner at Meydan WELL OF WISDOM, out of [...]