Mine are white and navy and teal. Sharp looking if I do say so myself. They are good on all colored horses and easily visible.
We have hot pink with a black pegasus on the back and initials on the sleeves. Our hot pink cap USED to have a black pompom on top but when we got new silks that fell by the wayside. 
Hot pink because you can’t miss it on the track! Our trainer has gray and white and my boss has white with red and blue designs, but as far as being able to pick them out of a field racing, you can’t beat hot pink!
If/when I get my own I’ve always thought lavender and orange might be fun.
(I know this all sounds horrifying!)
[IMG]http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll219/mht17/Topper-race-1.jpg)
I’ve designed my imaginary silks for someday when I can afford to have a racehorse or two. The current version, which has held the lead in my mind’s eye for a few years, is built around Siamese colors. Creamish with a stylized cat face with mask on the back, blue eyes. 
Blue bands on the sleeves, too, for better visibility. I would call myself Siamese Racing Stable.
On silks I’ve actually seen, I always liked the Allen Paulson red, white, and blue silks that Cigar carried. I’ve also been watching old Breeders’ Cups and noted what a neat green and easy to spot the ones on Fran’s Valentine were. You could really pick her out in the frame as they replayed the foul that got her disqualified. :winkgrin: I dislike pink.
By the way, based on some photos I’ve seen, sometimes the blinkers on the horse match the silks, sometimes not. I guess that’s just if the owner bothered to have matching ones made? Any kind of regulations/registration/color rules on blinkers?
Keep in mind, some places require basics in building silks (squares, bars, chevrons, etc) and may not be Soft Kitty friendly But they do sound cute. Up here, they go wild with some of the silks. Some jurisdictions require exact same patterns front and back. NY was one of those, not sure if they still are.
As for blinkers, they are not “colors” specific anywhere in the rules, but generally the trainers will have the blinkers on hand for the horses. Some owners do want a particular color or pattern on them so they can have them custom ordered or supply a set. The cups are generally the key on the blinkers though. In the picture of my horse, I have yellow blinkers with white cups on him. These are what I half-jokingly call the “speed blinders”. They are a full cup, closed right up, and encourages the horse to ignore everything but the track in front of him. He was going out to run in a battle of the breeds stakes against a mixed card of TBs and QHs going 2 furlongs (440 yards). We needed every ounce of speed he had
Just how many silks are out there registered?
Approximately 28,000 sets of silks are registered with The Jockey Club.
In New York State, owners must register their stable names and silks with The Jockey Club in order to start a horse at any of the four Thoroughbred tracks in the state. The three NYRA tracks, Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course, as well as Finger Lakes Race Track, which is not affiliated with NYRA.
Per The Jockey Club rules: “By registering stable names and silks with The Jockey Club, an owner is guaranteed exclusive use of the stable name and silks design when racing Thoroughbreds in New York State. However, owners who race horses in other states are welcome to, and often do, register their stable name and silks with The Jockey Club as well.”
http://www.jockeyclub.com/silks.asp
(pdf) Silks Application Jockey Club: $100 fee for new colors
Colors must be registered in the name of one person only; NOT a stable name or Mr. & Mrs. (example: Mary E. Jones).
Navy blue is NOT an available color.
These colors will be renewable on December 31st of the year they are registered.
Dumb question here too, but if there is an annual renewal fee does that mean if the fee goes unpaid for the following year then you can apply for those pattern/design/colors?
If you want to have a bit of fun designing your own silks.
http://www.horsehats.com/jockey-silks.html
[QUOTE=jengersnap;5972324]
Keep in mind, some places require basics in building silks (squares, bars, chevrons, etc) [/QUOTE]
I know I’ve seen a few nonblockular or straight line things. One Kentucky Derby horse (?) I think had an apple. There was also a peacock tail on one - NBC was joking about that, saying those were in honor of NBC. I’m not sure what states these were registered in, though.
So if every jurisdiction (state?) has their own rules, what happens if your trainer’s base is in California, your silks are fine in California, and you ship for one race to, say, Ohio, where your silks don’t meet their rules?
New York does make an exception for stakes races, not sure if they have to be graded or any stakes. Some friends of ours ran a filly up there and were disappointed that they couldn’t use their silks because they didn’t fit the NYRA regulations. When they got their they found out that they could because it was a stakes. Thankfully trainer had brought a set with.
Timely thread as we are finally going to come up with silks of our own after using either the trainers or friends for years. So far I’m leaning toward something with inverted chevrons, but beyond that I just can’t decide.
Unless the trainer is licensed as an owner they wouldn’t have their own silks. Most trainers have “colors” (Mott uses green with a white diamond bracket, Linda Rice uses blue and white, Jim Bond has a white “007” on royal blue) but the colors the rider wears in the race are the owner’s.
Some owners have blinkers made to match and others don’t. Wayne Lukas and Todd Pletcher have their initials on their blinkers and se them in the absence of color co-ordinated ones. Bobby Frankel always used plain black blinkers.
Not silks but equipment related; many trainers horses can be identified by little things like Bill Mott always using patterned browbands and Todd Pletcher and Kieran McLaughlin always using white bridles (a carryover from Lukas) usually with a white drop noseband. Assmussen’s horses use a brown figure 8 noseband is they go in one at all. Assmussens horses are often braided too.
The peacock silks are Canadian, and belong to Cecil Peacock of Calgary, Alberta. Regardless of what breed you race in Alberta, almost everyone knows those distinctive silks. As recognisable, in the harness industry, is the green and gold of Keith Clark, the blue and orange of Rod Hennessy, the blue, white and gold of the Traceys, and the black and red of Don Monkman.
Didn’t Merv Griffin have the NBC peacock inhis silks? I think he had tem when Stevie Wonderboy won the BCJ.
NY is pretty restrictive about the patterns and advertising on silks. I know there was a controversy about Sheikh Mo wanting “Fly Emirates” onhis royal blue Godolphin silks.
I thought I was remembering the peacock with Brother Derek but could easily be mixing up horses.
[QUOTE=dressagetraks;5973089]
I thought I was remembering the peacock with Brother Derek but could easily be mixing up horses.[/QUOTE]
He was owned by Cecil N. Peacock - Brother Derek with Alex Solis up
[QUOTE=Linny;5972989]
Didn’t Merv Griffin have the NBC peacock in his silks.[/QUOTE]
I don’t believe so. March 2007 San Diego Union Trib
The colt’s name, Cobalt Blue, is the same as the color which is one of two hues – the other being white – on Merv Griffin’s racing silks.
“It’s one of the most beautiful colors in the world,” Griffin said yesterday in the Santa Anita winner’s circle. “And to me, the words Cobalt Blue sound like action. I thought it would be a good name.
Image Stevie Wonderboy (Go Go up) - MG’s silks look all white to me.
Image Cobalt Blue at 2007 Illinois Derby - MG’s silks, still, look to be all white to me. That is perhaps the softest blue hue I’ve seen. Marylou Whitney uses Eton Blue which is more visually there.
An interesting flickr stream of images: registered silks and their owners
I guess it was Brother Derek I was remembering. I think that that is one of the patterns that NY doesn’t like!
It’s sometime cool to find out why the owners use the colors they do. Beverly Lewis and her late husband Bob used green and gold in recognition of the colors of Dogwood Stable, the partnership that first brought them into the game. Bill Mott adopted the diamond from the Firestone’s for whom he trained many stars. Several owners honor their college colors in their silks. I think that Robert LaPenta is among them with burgundy and gold. WinStar Stable colors (white with a stylized star in green) include the initials KC on the sleeve as a memorial to Karri Casner, Bill Casner’s daughter who was killed in the terror attack on a Bali nightclub. Some owner’s silks represent where they made the money in the first place, like Mike Pegram’s red and gold symbolizing the Mc Donald’s franchise that made him wealthy.
[QUOTE=Linny;5973193]
I guess it was Brother Derek I was remembering. I think that that is one of the patterns that NY doesn’t like!
It’s sometime cool to find out why the owners use the colors they do. Beverly Lewis and her late husband Bob used green and gold in recognition of the colors of Dogwood Stable, the partnership that first brought them into the game. Bill Mott adopted the diamond from the Firestone’s for whom he trained many stars. Several owners honor their college colors in their silks. I think that Robert LaPenta is among them with burgundy and gold. WinStar Stable colors (white with a stylized star in green) include the initials KC on the sleeve as a memorial to Karri Casner, Bill Casner’s daughter who was killed in the terror attack on a Bali nightclub. Some owner’s silks represent where they made the money in the first place, like Mike Pegram’s red and gold symbolizing the Mc Donald’s franchise that made him wealthy.[/QUOTE]
No, they used those colors because they met at the University of Oregon.
Bill Mott always using patterned browbands
Reason #49,672 to love Bill Mott IMHO.
I’ve wanted to know the origins of LaPenta’s silks for a while now. Love them.
While I’m not a huge fan, the big initials - such as Mr. Paulson, Mike Pegram, and Mike Repole - ARE easy to spot.
Love chevrons too, jennywho!!!
Mike Pegram’s are red and yellow because he owned several McDonald’s franchises. (As well as a horse named Arches of Gold…one of his “cleaner” names. )
Blinkers don’t have to match. The trainer might have all matching blinkers or might not. My boss has some of the ugliest colored sets of blinkers I’ve ever seen, which also don’t match his silks at all. You CAN have blinkers made, a client provided blinkers for his horse to wear this past summer. They also have house sets (plain white here) in the paddock in case your trainer or groom forgets to put them on or bring them and you didn’t declare them off.
And can I just say I LOVE IT on big race days when the pony riders (ahem pony girls because it’s always the ladies) deck their horses out in matching tack/wraps/glitter/ribbons.
