Michael Mahiakola and Brian Wiid lead Corpus Christi in
In a sequel to our editorial about assistant trainer Michael Mahiakola’s rise to prominence, it has emerged that the National Horseracing Authority of South Africa have withdrawn his winner’s name following complaints on religious grounds.
The story about the Miesque Approval colt Corpus Christi’s debut win told of the dogged determination of a young man set on training racehorses – and how after years of knocking on doors, and often having them slammed in his face, last Saturday at Turffontein saw it all come true.
The Scott Brothers-bred 2yo is out of the Mogok mare, Angel Child.
It is unclear who originally named the youngster.
The NHA have now informed the owners of Corpus Christi that they have had a ‘mountain of complaints’ from people that are offended by the name.
The authorites have also subsequently withdrawn the name, despite accepting it when it was registered as a yearling and have requested the owners to re-name the horse by the end of next week.
NHA Acting CEO Colin Hall has confirmed that the name Corpus Christi has already been withdrawn, and that they were waiting for the owners to furnish another.
The NHA Rules allow the CEO the authority to take such action.
NAMES OF HORSES
35.1 All names shall be subject to the approval of the CHIEF EXECUTIVE who shall not
approve the REGISTRATION of the following names:
35.1.1 those consisting of more than 18 characters, including punctuation marks and/or spaces,
save that 18 characters may be exceeded when a country code suffix is required;
35.1.2 those of well-known people, save where written permission is obtained from the individual
or the descendants of the individual concerned, by the PERSON seeking to REGISTER
the name;
35.1.3 those on the International or National List of Protected Names;
35.1.4 those containing numbers or initials or a combination of numbers and initials;
35.1.5 those of a similar spelling or pronunciation to those already REGISTERED;
35.1.6 those in bad taste or which have an unacceptable connotation in another language;
35.1.7 prominent company, product or trade names, except with the written approval of the
company or body associated with the name.
35.2 A REGISTERED name shall not be changed except with permission of the CHIEF
EXECUTIVE and then only on payment of the prescribed fee. The CHIEF EXECUTIVE
shall not approve any change in the name of an IMPORTED HORSE unless such change
of name has been approved by the racing authority of the country of foaling.
35.3 The CHIEF EXECUTIVE may order a REGISTERED name to be changed.
