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For the first time in years, I should have bet on something connected to Weyburn. 

A thoroughbred named Weyburn won the recent Gotham Stakes, a fairly prominent stakes race at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, N.Y. The bonus? Weyburn had 46:1 odds, which would have likely been the same odds as the Weyburn Red Wings winning the 2020-21 SJHL title, if we could legitimately bet on junior hockey. 

The Gotham Stakes is a race for three-year-old thoroughbreds, and it’s one of the races that counts to qualifying for the Kentucky Derby. The win at Gotham doesn’t guarantee Weyburn a spot at the Kentucky Derby, but it won’t hurt his cause, either. 

You might wonder how Weyburn has a horse carrying its name. The three-year-old is owned by Robert and Mark Krembil, a father-son operation that owns Chiefswood Stables in Schomberg, Ont.  

As it turns out, the elder Krembil grew up in Grenfell, and they’ve named thoroughbreds after Saskatchewan communities. Yorkton, one of their most successful horses, won seven races in 30 starts and earned more than $546,000 in his career. 

They haven’t had a horse named Estevan, and while I think it would be great, there is a complicating factor. 

It’s been well-known that I’m an avid horse racing fan. I went to the track for the first time when I was 13 on Father’s Day in 1992, picked a couple of winners, and was hooked. With my memory and ability to crunch numbers, horse racing was right up my alley. 

Believe it or not, according to the Equibase website (the all-encompassing reference site for horse racing), there have been four thoroughbreds named Estevan. Three of them never raced, including one born in 1958.

But a horse named Estevan, foaled in 2001, won six times in 42 races, including stakes races, and generated more than $412,000 in winnings, during a career that spanned from 2003-2008. Most of his winnings came at the famed Woodbine Race Track in Toronto, but he raced throughout North America.

Also worth noting is that Estevan the horse was owned by James and Alice Sapara for most of his career. He’s their second-best horse, trailing only Edenwold, who was Canada’s champion two-year-old in 2005 and won the Queen’s Plate in 2006. The Saparas also raced Carnduff, Maryfield and Vibank, among others that had Saskatchewan names.

Since Chiefswood is based in Ontario, and since Estevan had most of his success at Woodbine, that might prevent them from having a horse named Estevan. But we are due.

There’s a rule in racing that you have to wait 10 years after a horse is finished to have another horse with that name on that continent. It’s to avoid confusion. Since Saparas’ Estevan retired in 2008, you can now have another horse named after the Energy City in North America.

If Chiefswood is skittish about confusion, maybe they could use a well-known Estevan landmark, such as Boundary Dam. Or maybe they could name a horse Rafferty. Or they could go with one of our surrounding communities, like Bienfait or Roche Percee. Roche Percee Rocks would be a great name for a horse.

There was a horse named Oxbow that ran in the 2013 Kentucky Derby, and then won the second leg of the Triple Crown, which is the Preakness Stakes. (I lost big on Oxbow in the Derby, so I went with another horse in the Preakness. Should have stayed with the horse that shares the name of a southeast Saskatchewan town, even if that horse isn't named after the town).  

One of the other naming rules for thoroughbreds is you can’t recycle the name of a Triple Crown race winner. So you’ll never see a North American horse named Secretariat, American Pharoah or Oxbow again. You also can`t reuse the name of a famous horse, such as Seabiscuit.

People often wonder how horses get their name. In some cases, it’s based on the racing names of the horse’s parents. In other cases, there’s a sentimental reason, or it’s just simply fun or cute. 

Any race name has to go through the Jockey Club for approval. While the officials will have some leeway for names that are risqué, you can’t have a horse whose name crosses the line of good taste.

I hope Weyburn finds its way into the Kentucky Derby. It would likely have incredibly long odds, even longer than the 46:1 it had in the Gotham Stakes, but Mine that Bird had 50:1 odds when it won in 2009.  

The good folks at Chiefswood have earned the right to have one of their horses in the derby.

And if they ever have a horse named Estevan, I’m sure it would be even better than Weyburn.