The Jockey Club reminds owners and breeders that a valid attempt to name foals of 2007 must be made by Feb. 1, 2009, 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 40,949 names released from active use on December 22.

A majority of the released names are those of horses that will be over 10 years old on January 1 and that have not raced or been bred during the preceding five years. Names selected from the list for re-use are still subject to approval by The Jockey Club prior to use, pursuant to Rule 6 of the Principal Rules and Requirements of The American Stud Book.

“We have several useful resources available online to assist owners and breeders in the process of selecting and submitting a name for their Thoroughbred,” said Matt Iuliano, The Jockey Club’s vice president of registration services. “In addition to perusing the list of recently released names for ideas for Thoroughbred names, customers may check the potential availability of a name through our Online Names Book, which lists names currently in use or otherwise unavailable.”

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

Interactive RegistrationTM (IR) is the quickest and easiest way to submit name applications. 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, 2009, to The Jockey Club, 821 Corporate Drive, Lexington, KY 40503-2794.

Available at no charge through the Registry’s website, IR enables owners and breeders to complete the requirements for foal registration and naming, report and look up microchip numbers, and conduct virtually all other business with the Registry. More than 900,000 IR transactions have been recorded since its launch in 1996.

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 information and technology needs of the industry and by providing support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives.