Every Kentucky Derby winner, ranked by greatness of name

Naming a thoroughbred race horse can be a challenge, and some owners rise to it more than others. And when horse wins the Kentucky Derby the name lives on in infamy, for better or for worse.

The racing industry is, while not exactly enormous, quite widespread, and the number of registered thoroughbreds even larger. The Jockey Club is also unusual in that it has steps to ensure every horse’s name is unique. Owners of foals often submit lists of several names to the office, and hope one or two are available. No two active horses can have the same name, and there is something like a 20 year window following a horse’s death before the name can be used again.

That is for your average racehorse. There are certain exceptions. There will never be another horse named, for example, Man o’ War or Secretariat, even though the former has been dead close to 75 years.

Those rules have led to some creative names, and some confounding ones. Obviously, the pool of Derby winners is a very small and select crew, but within that group there are names from all over the awesomeness spectrum. Some get points for originality or story, some lost points for the same reason. All of them are, and will remain, winners of the most prestigious race in America, and possibly the world.

Still, some of the names evoke respect, and some evoke comedy. Some of the worst names in Derby history make you (or at least make me) ask: Why in the world would anyone name their horse that?

In these rankings, I may have given a bit of an advantage to a few sets of horses. Horses that, for one reason or another I irrationally like. This generally applies to horses that have won fairly recently, Triple Crown winners (and horses with generally accomplished careers), and the girls. There have only been 3 fillies to win the Kentucky Derby

These are formatted:

"Horse(Year They Won) Notes"

Let the ranking begin.