Preakness starters’ names evolve from an involved process (The Associated Press)

Owners can submit up to six choices in order of preference to The Jockey Club in the registration process. ”The reason we have such quality control is to make things very clear to the layman, to the stakeholder, to a trainer, to a bettor,” The Jockey Club manager of registration services Andrew Chesser said. ”You want to avoid confusion, especially when you’re talking about two particular horses that can be racing at the same time and breeding at the same time.” Chesser couldn’t explain the 18-character limit other than it being the worldwide standard and added, ”18 has just always seemed to work.” Some horses’ names feature a combination of its sire (father) and dam (mother) or the damsire (mom’s father). Others such as 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up Bodemeister are more creative: that colt was named after Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s son, Bode.