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The story
In a thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board titled “What’s the coolest racehorse name in JRA history?”, legendary names like Silence Suzuka, Symboli Rudolf, Narita Brian, and Deep Impact were brought up one after another. Posts insisting “Obviously it’s Bubble Gum Fellow” and “It’s gotta be Karston Light O, lol” stood out, while others called Kitasan Black’s name “lame,” leaving opinions split. Several posters also jumped in to correct the thread starter’s wording — pointing out that the proper term is “racehorse name,” not “horse racing name” — and some argued that the drama of how a horse won its races should count just as much as how cool its name sounds.
What people said
Isn't it "racehorse name," not "horse racing name"?
Kitasan sounds lame
the old great steeplechase horses had such classy names
If we're being picky about it, it's "racehorse name," not "horse racing name"
Background and Key Points of This Topic
JRA racehorse names are written in katakana with a limit on the number of characters, and are often chosen based on an owner’s personal taste, lucky charms, or wordplay on the pedigree names of foreign horses. How memorable a sound or meaning can be packed into that constraint is exactly why certain names get passed down as “legendary horse names.” In the thread, opinions split between those simply citing names that sound cool and those who argued, as with Deep Impact and Buena Vista, that the actual drama of how the horse won should factor into the evaluation too — with the same name sometimes being called both “cool” and “lame” depending on who was weighing in. The thread starter’s use of “horse racing name” instead of the correct “racehorse name” also drew multiple corrections, making the terminology mix-up part of the conversation as well.
※This article is an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “What’s the coolest racehorse name in JRA racing history?“
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