The Jockey Club reminds owners and breeders that a valid attempt to name foals of 2006 must be made by Feb. 1, 2008, to avoid a $75 late fee. As an aid in selecting a desired name, The Jockey Club once again has published on the Registry’s website a list of 39,287 names released from active use on December 20.

A majority of the released names are those of horses that will be over 10 years old on Jan. 1 and that have not raced or been bred during the preceding five years. Names appearing on the list must be approved by The Jockey Club prior to use pursuant to Rule 6 of the Principal Rules and Requirements of The American Stud Book.

Owners and breeders are also encouraged to consult the Online Names Book to check the potential availability of Thoroughbred names.

“We check approximately 65,000 name submissions each year and we reject more than 15,000 of them because they are identical or similar to names already in use,” said Matt Iuliano, The Jockey Club’s vice president of registration services. “The number of rejections could be reduced if applicants would check the Online Names Book to see if a name may be available prior to submitting it.”

The list of recently released names and the Online Names Book are accessible through the Registry’s home page at http://www.registry.jockeyclub.com. Both resources are updated daily as names are claimed so that users are always looking at the most current information.

All name selections must be approved by The Jockey Club prior to use, including those selected from the list of recently released names.

Interactive RegistrationTM (IR) is the quickest and easiest way to submit name applications and is available at no charge through the Registry’s website. More than 23,000 owners and breeders utilize IR to complete the requirements for foal registration and naming, report and look up microchip numbers, and transact virtually all other business with the Registry. More than 750,000 IR transactions have been recorded since its launch in 1996.

Name applications submitted through IR are preliminarily screened to eliminate direct matches with names unavailable for use, resulting in a greater chance of approval of first choice names when compared with name applications submitted via mail. Owners who name their Thoroughbreds through IR receive their first choice approximately 75 percent of the time.

Owners who prefer to submit their name applications by mail should do so before Feb. 1, 2008, to The Jockey Club, 821 Corporate Drive, Lexington, KY 40503-2794.

The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American Thoroughbreds. The Jockey Club fulfills that longstanding commitment by serving the industry through its family companies and by providing support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives.