What’s in a name – New Year brings mixed results

With one year coming to a close and another on the horizon we thought we’d join the celebrations by tracking those performers out on the track that have names associated with the turn of the new Year – and there’s plenty of choose from it would seem.

New Year (Sir Michael – Bugle Ann) The most obvious name associated with us counting down to 2025. You’ll have to go back deep in the memory banks to come up with this record. New Year raced in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, notching a win and a placing as a juvenile, repeated those results a year later when aged 3, from there New Year proved only an average performer with the last 26 recorded starts failing to worry the scorers.

Resolution (Mark Lobell – Trixie Charles) There’ll be a few resolutions floating around as we head into 2025 and they’ve been a few in the past too with a number of horses named just that. The most successful of those would arguably be this son of Mark Lobell who raced in the early 80’s.

Resolution posted 2 wins and 4 minor placings from 25 starts with driver Maurice McKendry enjoying a sound association with the animal, notching up a win at Northland (Ruakaka) in 1987 when victorious over Asian Command and Larry Brydon. Dam Trixie Charles won 5 herself with Callmay, a winner of 5 from 12 on NZ soil, proving the best of her progeny.

Calendar (Racing News – Heidi) A New Year demands a new calendar. This colt by Racing News, which was foaled in the mid 1980’s, didn’t leave a lasting impression, failing to reach the races. Dam Heidi (Lorship) failed to make much of an impression as a mother – her only recorded winner being Our Blase (Racing News) who managed a solitary win on Australian soil in 1990.

Celebration (Party Ahead – Ryal Judy) A well named type being by Party Ahead. Celebration would have caused connections cause for one on at least a couple of occasions during her racing career, notching up 2 victories from some 38 race day starts alongside 6 minor placings. The mare did most of her racing for Hamish Hunter with wins coming at Wairio and Wyndham.

Celebration proved herself a capable short-course performer with a number of her stronger performances coming over the shorter trips.

As a broodmare Celebration failed to leave a winner although a number of her progeny did at least get to the races.

As you can probably decipher from the above results, if you find your motivations for naming your horse around a New Year theme then just don’t expect much cheer out on the track – there’s been only limited results from those named after the big year-ending event.

by Harnesslink Media