Here we are again, knee-deep in Ladies. Why so many?

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A rose by any other name would smell as sweet and a horse by any other name would almost certainly run as fast (or as slow). But we still care about racehorse names at the Front Runner, so here we are again with our annual look at which words are most popular with owners just now.

We searched through a list of all two-year-olds who ran in Britain last year, kindly provided by my colleague, Craig Thake, and came up with a pecking order of which words came up most often. Boy names have been kept separate from girl names because, as we discovered last summer, owners tend to be very gender-conscious when naming their expensive animals. So here they are:

Fillies
Lady 44
Star 36
Angel 23
Queen 22
Girl 21
Rose 21
Miss 19
Love 17
Dream 12
Dance 11
Sea 11
Storm 11
Princess 10
Time 10

Colts / geldings
Star 31
King 27
Man 24
Dream 21
Gold 17
Boy 16
Blue 14
Time 13
Prince 12
Royal 11
Night 10

You have to marvel at the popularity of Lady, which, for the second year in a row, tops the fillies list. What can account for it? 

People see nobility in racehorses, just as they should, and I understand that they often reach for words suggestive of grace, elegance, style and possibly also power and exciting quantities of money. Still, why should Lady be twice as popular as Queen or be used four times as often as Princess?

Maybe the current crop of owners largely got into the game back in the late 90s, when Lady Carla won the Oaks and Lady Rebecca was winning whenever there was racing at Cheltenham. Maybe they all had their stock portfolio on Lady Aurelia in the Queen Mary.

Anyway, here we are, knee-deep in Ladies again, ranging from the traditional (Distinguished Lady, Impulsive Lady, Lovely Lady) to the relatively novel (Techno Lady, Star Of Lady M, The Twilight Lady). In terms of races won, it's the latter group who come out well ahead, which possibly tells us something.

Star is the word that cuts across the gender divide, coming second among fillies and top for colts or geldings, unseating King, which prevailed last year. Taking the two lists together, Star's popularity has increased by more than 50 per cent since last year.

Star Of Lady M qualifies again, of course. Perhaps having both the two most popular words for fillies in her name helped her to score four times as a juvenile.

We also have Beautiful Star, Glamorous Star, Movie Star Looks, not to mention Artistic Star, Fortunate Star and simply Star, who hasn't quite lived up to the billing as yet. He's with Archie Watson, so there's always hope.

Artistic Star: in training with Ralph BeckettCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Should we read anything into the fact that Gold has waned in popularity in both lists? Perhaps people feel they have less of it than before. Perhaps money is a subject they are less keen on broaching in these difficult times.

Love and Dreaming are as popular as ever, what with people needing something to cheer them up after watching the news. Girl is a bit less popular than before, Angel rather more popular, a sign that perhaps male owners are raising their expectations.

We mentioned last year the prevailing tendency to give fillies names which suggest good looks and romance while colts get titles associated with the military and social standing. It's just as well this kind of gender stereotyping doesn't affect our parenting styles, imbuing boys and girls with two completely different sets of expectations.

Anyway, we get a total of 108 mentions among fillies for these words: Angel, Rose, Love, Charm, Beauty, Beautiful, Belle, Bella, Sweet, Pink, Lovely, Pretty, Elegant, Glamorous, Kiss, Romantic and Darling. And that's without mentioning Centrefold or Jolie En Rose.

Who knew that Barbara Cartland owned so many racehorses? I feel like we need an antidote to all that sacharine sentimentality, so it's disappointing that not one single horse had the word Yuck in its name last year.

Those same words appear just nine times among the boys, mostly in the form of Angels. Much respect to whichever original thinker decided to call their colt Kiss N Cuddle. The Front Runner is pleased to see they were rewarded with three wins last year.

Epictetus: falls into the Commentators' Nightmares section of last year's juvenilesCredit: Mark Cranham

Turning now to the bloke stereotypes, we find among the colts and geldings a total of 65 mentions for these words: Captain, Major, Admiral, Commander, Lord, Master, Sir, War, Warrior, Fighter, Force, Army, Empire, Imperial, Grand, Great, Noble, Thunder.

Those same words appear just five times among the fillies. One of the five was Grand Oak, a US-based filly who came over for the Queen Mary.

Imaginative and creative racehorse names really add something to the game. I'm hoping to see a few more of those in the future and a bit less of Romantic Lady Bella or Captain Thunder Force.

Finally, here's the section marked Commentators' Nightmares. Were I in the shoes of Messrs Hoiles or Holt, I'd always be hoping these ones would become raceday non-runners: Aihawawi, Blueflagflyinghigh, Dixiedoodledragon, Dropskipandump, Epictetus (no fun to say at speed, even if you're familiar with the stoic philosopher), Gallimimus, La Isla Mujeres, Malinheadsearovers, Mispollyhadadolly, Nifaliophobia, Pfingstberg and Zicatela.

What fun if a couple of them fight out a finish one day...

Monday's picks

Tommydan (5.20) returns to the course and distance over which he won a month ago and he'd nearly be favourite if this was his first outing since. But he went to Newton Abbot the following week, didn't he, and got beat 74 lengths.

Tommydan17:20 Southwell

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Jky: Sean Quinlan Tnr: Jennie Candlish

Without wishing to be mean, it seemed like he wasn't really brave enough for that switch from hurdles to fences. From the outset, Tommydan didn't fancy the bigger obstacles and the race got away from him almost immediately.

Hopefully, he'll be pleased and relieved to see hurdles back in front of him at Southwell today. Sean Quinlan is back in the saddle, which might be just as important.

From a mark 6lb higher than his win, Tommydan is surely handicapped to go in again. Odds of 8-1 look too big, though the yard is going quiet.

In tonight's final race at Musselburgh, Yeeeaah (9.00) is another for whom excuses can be made. It's pretty dangerous to keep making allowances for a four-year-old whose career record is 0/16 but his two starts for Tristan Davidson have been promising.

Yeeeaah21:00 Musselburgh

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Jky: Cam Hardie Tnr: Tristan Davidson

Davidson is in flying form, with four winners from his last eight runners, so any of his handicappers has got to be interesting if chalked up at 16-1. Yeeeaah has dropped another couple of pounds for his latest effort.

'He can quicken up to lead close home' - our Monday tipster with a strong Musselburgh fancy  

Three things to look out for on Monday

1. I haven't noticed too many ex-British runners making a new start in Hong Kong lately but Packing Knockhill falls into that category. He was plain old Knockhill when he won a Sandown maiden on his debut in August, with John Egan calling him "as good a two-year-old as I've ever sat on". He was owned by a syndicate as well as Harry Redknapp at the time and evidently an offer came in. He would have needed his first run in Hong Kong last week and he'll probably need this run in a mile handicap but hopefully we can see a better effort. Harry Bentley takes the ride. 

Packing Knockhill15:15 Sha Tin

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Jky: Harry Bentley Tnr: L Ho

2. Ollie Sangster is suddenly hot to the touch. The rookie trainer has five wins to his name, three of which have come from his last four runners, including an 11-2 shot in a novice race at Newbury last week. His only runner today is Dig Two, unseen since May. The chestnut tackles a sprint handicap at Windsor, where the drying ground ought to help.

Dig Two18:45 Windsor

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Jky: Laura Pearson (3lb)Tnr: Ollie Sangster

3. Among jockeys, one of those in the strongest vein of current form is 22-year-old George Rooke. He had been having a quiet season until catching fire in mid-June. Over the past fortnight, he's had five winners from 13 rides, including handicap scorers at 14-1, 8-1 and 13-2. Two of his three rides at Windsor this evening are rank outsiders in maiden races, horses whose chances he can't do much about. But he should be able to get the best out of Nogo's Dream in the opening sprint handicap as the horse returns to the minimum distance for the first time since winning a Wolverhampton maiden under Rooke in March. Blinkers and six furlongs proved an unattractive combination when the horse was last seen at the end of May.

Nogo's Dream17:10 Windsor

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Jky: George Rooke Tnr: Richard Hughes

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The Front Runner is our unmissable email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content.