NAME: THOREAU BRED

That's it: Thoreau Bred. That's the name I selected for my Kentucky Derby horse.

You see I taught or went to school for, well, a long time. Much of it spent in an English classroom. I taught Henry David Thoreau's Walden for several seasons. I like puns, I confess. So it was a natural.

I rejected Teacher's Pet as too mundane. Ride Sally Ride, for the same reason. What's in a Name was a distant second. Leedio Cabutti, the name of an old high school basketball coach, was never really in the game (another pun), but one with serious coolness.

Also on the drawing board was Hang Up and Drive, rather like Mr. Troutt's Hold Me Back, something I often say, and though it's one of my most used, it's not one of my favorites.

I even toyed with Amazing G Race and Our God Reins, but I''m not at all into anything bordering on sacreligious.

So it was back to puns. For past champions--Not So Big Brown. Or Sea Battle Slew. Even Traffic Tic for Citation. But I didn't like those either.

So Thoreau Bred, it is. Now if I could just find a horse for what Saturday's winner paid. And, of course, parley that into a Derby champion.