In all the talk I am hearing about this good mare on TV, no one has said anything about why she was given a male name.
Of course there have been many other racehorses over the centuries named for famous men, but those horses AFAIK have all been males, unlike Abel Tasman the mare.
So have any of you heard the story of Abel Tasman’s (the mare) name?
"To answer the obvious question first: Abel Tasman is not named after the 17th century Dutch (male) navigator whose resume included the discovery of Tasmania and large sections of New Zealand as well as having the sea between them named in his honour.
The elegant daughter of Quality Road is named after the national park in New Zealand, which also commemorates the great seaman. It was a favourite place of Clearsky Farms founder Eamon Cleary, who made most of his fortune in New Zealand, and his sons who bred her thought she deserved the name."
Abel Tasman will be going through Keenland sales in January.
So that’s kind of like saying Verrazzano the horse was named after the Verrazano bridge and not the explorer that the bridge was named after ;).
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