1.) Only MRF members in good standing will be allowed to register horses with the ONR.
2.) Information to be sent in order for the name to be approved (rather than reserved) is as follows:
Name (See guidelines below)
Year foaled
Color
Only one of six Jocky club recognized colors shall be permitted: Bary, Dark bay/brown, Chestnut, Gray/Toan (Gray OR Roan prior to foals of 1993), Black or White
Other colored horses shall be registered under a recognized color; variations or details may be listed under the notes section of the registry (i.e. a palomino sabino shall be registered as a chestnut; palomino sabino will be listed under the notes section)
Sex (filly, colt or gelding)
Sire (sire's sire and sire's dam), real or model
Dam (dam's sire and dam's dam), real or model
Breeder (state or country) (if the breeder of your foal is a real breeder, please do your best to determine who that breeder is, rather than listing it as “unknown real breeder”. The Blood-Horse, Thoroughbred Times, other MRF members, and the ONR database itself are good sources for determining this information).
Owner
3.) Names are limited to 20 characters. Count each letter, punctuation mark and space as a character. Numbers are not permitted unless written out (i.e. six, not 6). Do Not include country codes are part of your character count.
4.) Names shall not be explicitly vulgar or offensive in intent. This is a matter of opinion and viewpoint and the ONR committee that screens names on a monthy basis will make final decisions. So please keep good taste in mind when naming your horses.
5.) Roman numerals, prefixes and suffices (including country codes) shall not be intentionally used to avoid duplication of a name already in use. for example, Cigar II, Cigars, The Cigar and Cigar (IRE) would all be inadmissible.
6.) Permanent or protected names shall not be allowed for ONR use. The following classes of names shall be considered protected, never to be used by ONR registered horses:
Any real horse who has been named an American champion, any member of the American Racing Hall of Fame, any winner of a Breeders' Cub race, any winner of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes or Belmont Stakes.
A list of European-based horses (racing and breeding stock) has been compiled by the ONR committee for protected status. This list may include winners, top sires and broodmares and other important race winners.
Any other real horse deemed important enough in racing and/or breeding to be accorded permanent status as determined by the ONR committee (i.e. Mr. Prospector, Storm Cat, etc.
Protected names in the ONR shall include the following:
Any horse named a Gallery Chamption or Gallery Horse of the Year
Any horse named an IOR or International Champion or Horse of the Year
Any horse who has won a Model Breeders' Cup (MBC) Race
Any horse who has won the IOR Kentucky Derby, IOR Preakness Stakes or IOR Belmont Stakes
Any stallion or mare who has sired/produced at least one Gallery Champion or one Model Breeder's Cup winner
Please Note: Protected names may not automatically turn up as such [in red] when you "Check Registered Names" in the ONR Database. The ONR screening committee may choose to reject a name based on the above rules for protected names, even if the horse [real or model] has not been officially given a "protected" status.
7.) Any ONR registered horse who is later followed by a real horse that earns protected status (i.e. a 1995 ONR registered horse named Ghostzapper) shall be permitted to keep its name. It is highly recommended that any horse who has not yet been raced or bred, that has a Jocky Club protected name (through ONR advanced registration) apply for a new name prior to being raced or bred.
8.) Other MRF names may qualify for protected status if requested by an MRF member. Horses such as those who have won multiple track championships or HOTY titles, or stallions/mares who habe produced at least two HOTYs are among those who will qualify. Other real horses may qualify if they do not already fall under one of the above protected categories. No name that is ONR registered is in danger of being reused unless owner of said horse "releases" the name for user. You do not have to take any formal steps to protect the name of your track HOTY, dam of your best model runner or the horse named for your dad who has never broke its maiden.
9.) Names not classified as permanent or protected by the ONR may be avaliable for re-use, but only if the owner voluntarily releases such name from the ONR Database, or if the owner has been a non-member for more than five years. Any eligible names not voluntarily released shall be published in the MRF and on the OneList for review prior to being released. The guideline for releasing names for horses who have been raced is five years from their last racing with no offspring, or ten years from the death/pension of a producing stallion/mare.
10.) Registration of foals not yet "born" shall be permitted.
11.) Any approved names of non-racing/non-breeding stock horses held by a member who has permanently left the MRF or has been missing for more than five years shall be released by the ONR. All reasonable attempts shall be made to make sure the horse did not change hands before the member left the hobby.
12.) Please remember that "released" names will not be removed from the ONR database. All ONR registered horses will have a permanent record in the database. Released names are merely names that may now be re-used by other members.