What’s in a horse’s name

3:46 PM ET

For the handful of Thoroughbred horse-racing fans not following the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship currently underway in Russia — and I know you’re out there — it should be of more than passing interest that through preliminary-round play last Sunday, Gustav Nyquist was the leading goal scorer of the tournament, and that his Swedish national team was sitting second in the Group A standings with one game left to play, which assured them of a place among the final eight in the knockout round commencing Thursday in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Go Sweden?

It’s probably easier to cheer on Nyquist when he’s skating for the Red Wings, which is why Paul Reddam named his horse for the hockey player in the first place, Detroit being Reddam’s old-school team of choice from his formative years in Ontario. But the Red Wings were knocked out in the first round of the NHL playoffs by a team from Florida, of all places, which allowed the 26-year-old Nyquist to suit up for his homeland in the World Championship while the 3-year-old Nyquist works his way through the Triple Crown.

“I’m in partnership with some horses with Erik Johnson, who plays for the Colorado Avalanche,” Reddam said last summer, shortly after Nyquist won the Del Mar Futurity. “I named the colt just to annoy him, although whenever Nyquist’s name comes up, Erik will say, ‘I scored on him, you know.'”

There seems to be a natural inclination to favor famous athletes when brainstorming horse names. The intersection of sporting orbits is as old as the hills, and if the horse lives up to its name, it can be a PR dream for racing.

So, owners roll the dice and grab a name from the top shelf, because who wouldn’t want to follow a racehorse named Babe Ruth (a son of Unbridled), Ayrton Senna (out of the mare Antifreeze), or Ben Hogan, a New Zealand gelding who won eight of 81 starts?

There is no record of Pete Rose ever meeting — or betting …

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