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Go ahead and call him by another name! Horses don’t think about such stuff and don’t care as long as you give them lots of treats, feed, and exercise them… :yes: You won’t be able to legally change his name with the Jockey Club though if he’s already raced.
Enioy that horse!!! 
I would keep his JC name unless it’s really terrible. Honor his past. Give him a new barn name if you like.
I’m pretty superstitious and don’t normally rename horses – especially those with JC names – but I renamed my OTTB when I bought her at age 7. It was pretty terrible. She literally had the same first name as me as a barn name, and her JC name was the eponymous form of my name + “devil.” Yep: “Fergs’s Devil.”
That had to go.
The two of the yearlings that we purchased last year came with not so great names, so we officially changed them. We do, however, still use the barn names that are related to their original names. Go ahead, change the name.
What Cherry said :yes:
I renamed my WB when I got him to honor my Dad - both show & barn names.
Horse was 15yo & now answers to his barn name.
As long as treats & good care come with a new name, horses adapt
I reshow named my off the track Tbred. His JC name was ridiculous, I can’t even remember it now. Come to think of it, I renamed both of mine. I did keep their barn names. Looking back, I kinda wished I had renamed the one, his name is Woody. About 4 years ago we had to enucleate his left eye. Kiddo went to daycare telling everyone she rode One Eyed Woody. Daycare actually called us in to find out what was going on. Significant Other was annoyed saying “that’s not even the right term”. 
Anyway- change if you don’t like it.
I renamed the barn name of my mini. Her name was Haley and I had a dog name Haley. We called her Tootsie Roll (kiddo named her, she’s not brown she’s white. I thank god it wasn’t Snowball). No issues.
Not JC horses, but I renamed most of the horses I bought. To me it’s a fresh start for both of us, and unless their name really seemed to fit, I changed it. I don’t think any of them minded.
I’ve changed the barn name of 2 of my thoroughbreds. One was many years ago, his papers were lost to history and lip tattoo was unreadable. HE came to me with the name My Love. :disgust: I wouldn’t name a girl horse that, much less a boy. That got changed immediately to Miller. Took about 2 seconds for him to learn his new name and respond to it. (I think he was personally very glad!) The other is currently a mare of mine named Move On. Her previous owner simply called her Mover. (kinda dumb, to me) I changed it to Moira, and she learned it pretty quickly.
I agree if you plan to do any showing, I would keep the JC name. But definitely change their barn name if you prefer something else. They certainly aren’t going to prefer one over the other. Unless it’s My Love. 
Mine had a really dumb name that was the same as a piece of home hardware. It was changed off the track to something else and he doesn’t seem to notice or care.
Someday I will have a barn full of racehorses named things like doorknob, dishwasher, and ceiling fan though.
“HERE COMES CEILING FAN DOWN THE HOMESTRETCH, LOOK AT HIM RUN”
I changed a 10 y/o Percheron/QH mare’s name cuz the original was awful!
She doesn’t care. Two days and she came trotting up after calling her new name.
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[QUOTE=LetsGetThis948;8185905]
Thanks everyone!! His name is Tapaway, but I’d love to “rename” him D’Artagnan. The only thing I’m planning with him are low level hunter paces. He had a pretty bad sesamoid fx that will keep him from real showy h/j stuff and dressage doesn’t really appeal to me, so nothing super formal.[/QUOTE]
I think you should name him whatever you want and that he will be perfectly happy with a name change.
But I personally like the name Tapaway. Is he pretty and gray and related to Tapit?
I’d say that as a show name, announcers will have a much easier time with Tapaway than D’Artagnan. People are not as well read as you might imagine.
He’s a rather well bred Tapit son with a decent earnings record.
I like his JC name… but we have almost never kept BOTH the JC and the barn name of our OTTBs… usually one is changed… ie we had a “Watral’s Nat Star” (ick) – yeah, that had to go - he showed under The Spooky Pony picked up a nice TB a few years ago @ Suffolk Downs named Snake River or Snake for short… kept the JC but renamed him Boomer…
I like the idea of showing under their JC name because that is where a lot of their history is, but if it is a stupid name, who cares? Change it up.
I’m not a superstitious person, except when it comes to naming horses. I don’t change the name unless absolutely forced to do so, like if it’s something completely ridiculous.
[QUOTE=LetsGetThis948;8185905]
Thanks everyone!! His name is Tapaway, but I’d love to “rename” him D’Artagnan. The only thing I’m planning with him are low level hunter paces. He had a pretty bad sesamoid fx that will keep him from real showy h/j stuff and dressage doesn’t really appeal to me, so nothing super formal.[/QUOTE]
I recognize that name! As a fellow New Vocations alum, I just want to say congrats!! And I changed my new guy’s barn name from Storm to Revel. The jury is still out on the JC name for shows (Storm Driven) because we aren’t there yet.
[QUOTE=short strided;8186051]
I recognize that name! As a fellow New Vocations alum, I just want to say congrats!! And I changed my new guy’s barn name from Storm to Revel. The jury is still out on the JC name for shows (Storm Driven) because we aren’t there yet.[/QUOTE]
I had to do a double take on your horses name. My Thoroughbred is thought (JC tattoo researched) to be Driven Storm!!!
In response to the OP.
Personally, continuing to use his registered name-helps find people that may have known him in his first career. It is his given name.
Also, just an FYI D’ Artagnan is way over used.
I don’t think you have to use a JC name as a show name. My OTTB was “Sunshine Eric”, barn name Eric. Mmmmmkay… We changed it to Curious George, barn name George, which I admit was not much better. Many years later I leased him out for a year and the leaser inexplicably changed his name to Frank. He was cursed with terrible human names.
