Stop the 'Violence'?
 

http://www.drf.com/blogs/any-other-name

The name follows logically enough from the dam, but it made me cringe well before the Newtown situation. Wasn't in love with He's Had Enough either because it makes him either sound someone who's worn out or a drunk, but obviously it's the owner's right to try to name their horse something in curious taste. The Jockey Club let it through, and names like Bodacious Tatas and Panty Raid have gotten through in the past.

I suppose if there were a desire to change (and it doesn't sound like the owner plans on it) a compromise could be that since the word is spelled the same in French but obviously is pronounced differently, you could always pronounce it the French way which sounds a little more elegant and a little less shocking. Could always change it to Violenza which is Italian for Violence and acknowledges the language of the sire's name. Probably no way around sportswriters trying to be clever with their titles though.

Who gives a sh!t?

It is a decent name for a horse and a stupid idea for a column.

I agree.. People are bat-dung crazy. In the comments section under the Futurity recap story somewhere, a woman wrote that she can't wait until the horse breaks down and that's exactly what the sick millionaire that named him deserves. This is what you're dealing with.

I hope Jay Hovdey's typing fingers break down.

I look forward to the follow-up, when there is a demand for a retroactive name change of Ack Ack.

Hoping that horse breaks down is insane and ugly. Ironic that the woman who said it doesn't realize she's far sicker than the owner actually is (which is to say not at all) because she wished that upon an animal. I figure there've been so many truly ridiculous names that in the scheme of things it's at worst a little uncomfortable. At least it isn't "Unbridled Violence."

Alas he'll probably just use some sort of voice activated dictation software.

Hovdey says in the article it's just unfortunate coincidence, and he's right. His only criticism was of the headline written after the horse's victory, which yeah, could have been better thought out.

I think in the wake of something so awful people flail out for something, anything, to put blame on as a way of trying to exert some control over a scary world. Imagine if the horse had been named "Violent Video Game."

Yep.

Maybe they will change the name to Warren's Beauty, since there is plenty of room for another horse named Warren in So-Cal !

:tro::tro::tro:

Went to the JC's name registry and typed in Warren to see what came up. Holy crap. All in the last 5-10 years and it goes on for pages. http://www.drf.com/news/warren-band-became-whole-herd He says he's got 400 with that in their name. :zz:

Come to think of it, Pyro's name should be changed at stud, and all his race records updated with the new name. It's much too disturbing.

any horse with the word "war" in it should be changed as well, past and present.

I remember writing a front-page headline for DRF - "Looting" likely at Hollypark - regarding a horse named Stolen Loot. I wrote it the day before, but it appeared the day after, the Rodney King riots. I was mortified.

:tro:

Those type of video games probably reduce violence because they give people the chance to act out their veiled fantasies.

Look at the all-time best selling video games in Canada: Grand Theft Auto 4, Halo 2, Halo 3, ... all extremely violent games.

Halo was a great sire by the way. Since it's probably the most popular of the extremely violent video games ... and it is the name of a horse who sired two Kentucky Derby winners ... maybe Hovdey has a new idea for his next horse racing column.

Didn't they name the video game after the horse, because of Halo's extremely nasty disposition?

They need to have a video game for Preppers ... but a lot of those freaks are just a little too old to be into video games.

Instead of wasting tens of thousands of dollars preparing for absurd scenarios that their deranged minds dream up ... they can spend $40 for a video game and play all the scenarios out.

If the video game is well done ... they'd even have the ability to allow the player to create their own scenario.

These middle aged gun-nuts missed the true video game revolution by 5-to-15 years.

Could he still wear his engagement ring?

Because I'm an Old, I remember when Dungeons & Dragons was clearly, obviously, driving kids to suicide and Satanism. 60 Minutes even did a piece on it, and, because it was the 1980s, that piece was not 20 minutes of Ed Bradley laughing his head off. Because back then it was understood that there is nothing like a 20-sided die to drive a child to the DARK SIDE. Really, they should have been banned.

If I ever own a race horse I'll name him Twenty Sided Die. I'm sure he'll inspire mass mayhem and eeeeeeevil.