Posted on 06/02/2005 8:52:08 AM PDT by Irontank
When history buff Garrett Redmond bought a filly out of the Colonial Affair mare Jefferson's Secret, he thought he had the perfect name: Sally Hemings.
Hemings was a slave of President Thomas Jefferson and might have been his mistress. Although the exact nature of their connection is in dispute, Hemings and Jefferson are thought by some historians to have had a decades-long relationship and at least one child - and possibly more - together.
"To name a horse after someone is an honor," said Redmond, owner of Ballycapple, a farm in Paris. "I have a horse here named after my wife."
But The Jockey Club, which regulates the naming of all thoroughbred racehorses, didn't see it that way. The arbiters of equine taste have refused to allow the name.
Redmond filed suit in U.S. District Court in Lexington on Thursday to force The Jockey Club to let him use it and to allow the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority to let him race the 2-year-old filly under that name....
In a June 4, 2004, letter from Ogden Mills Phipps, chairman of The Jockey Club, Phipps said the name "is a clear reference to the slave woman alleged to have had children with Thomas Jefferson. Naming a thoroughbred horse `Sally Hemings' may be offensive to persons of African descent and other ethnic groups, may be offensive to descendants of the specific people involved, may have negative historical implications, may have negative moral implications and may be degrading to ethnic groups and descendants of the people involved."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Negative moral implications?...Negative historical implications? I don't even know what that means
My pop has a number of ponies - they are quite rigid about naming - this is a non story IMO, odd only for it's discomfort level
"To name a horse after someone is an honor," said Redmond, owner of Ballycapple, a farm in Paris. "I have a horse here named after my wife."
No it's not.
""But The Jockey Club, which regulates the naming of all thoroughbred racehorses, didn't see it that way.""
He's allowed to name that horse Sally Hemmings. And The Jockey Club is allowed to turn his horse down.
hey it's just sex - why be offended?
I think someone should name a race dog "That Bitch Can Run"
Name it Salle HemMings
you'd think they'd be OK with this...
LOL!
If someone named a horse "Monica's Cigar" I would place it in the trifecta every bet.
10 dollars on Monica to show please!
That's funny!
The interviewed members of her family are opposed to the idea. Now they may not speak for everyone, but I would say that if her descendants don't consider it an honor, it's not an honor.
He named the poor horse, "Battleaxe"?
I heard of a horse named "It's a cow!"
This was so the owner could hear the announcer say "coming around the far turn - It's a cow!"
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