Every Kentucky Derby winner, ranked by greatness of name
By Zoe West
72. Kauai King (1966): Was this a pass at annexing Hawaii? Don’t know, but loses points.
71. Reigh Count (1928)
70. Proud Clarion (1967): Appropriately militant name for a Cold War horse.
69. Jet Pilot (1947): Basic but timely (horse was born during end of WW2).
68. Barbaro (2006)
67. Ponder (1949): Sounds surprisingly intellectual.
66. Bold Venture (1936): One of two “Bold” names, gets the nod and higher rank because what comes after is more creative.
65. Grindstone (1996): Did the name echo his attitude on the track? Hopefully.
64. Spend A Buck (1985): You would have to…
63. Exterminator (1918): I wonder if he scared opponents?
62. Riva Ridge (1972): Unfortunately named after a skiing location, but not bad sounding if you don’t know that.
61. Mine That Bird (2009): I really thought it was “Mind That Bird” for a long time.
60. Behave Yourself (1921): Why would you want to call a horse this? Maybe if you have to remind them all the time.
59. Funny Cide (2003): Not great, but gets points for essentially being “death of funny.”
58. Azra (1892): Short and easy to say, but any significance has been lost to time.
57. Thunder Gulch (1995)
56. MacBeth II (1888): Points for Shakespeare.
55. Middleground (1950): Not too low not too high, but not what you might want for a race horse.
54. Street Sense (2007)
53. Smarty Jones (2004): Awesome horse, less awesome name.