Fancy naming a racehorse and owning a piece of him at the same time?
Ownaracehorse has brought back its popular racehorse naming competition for 2026, and this year the prize is a 1% share in an unraced yearling colt for his 2027 Flat season.
The competition is completely free to enter and marks the 20th anniversary of Ownaracehorse using the public to help name some of its syndicate horses.
The winning name will stay with the horse throughout his racing career, while the person who comes up with it will receive a 1% leased share worth more than £800 for the 2027 turf season.
Entries close on 17 October 2026.
Meet the Horse You Could Name
The horse at the centre of this year’s competition is a bay yearling colt by Kameko, who will be trained by Ollie Pears at Malton in North Yorkshire.
Kameko was a top-class racehorse himself, winning the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in 2020 in a then race-record time before going on to win the Group 2 Joel Stakes later that season.
The unnamed colt will turn two in 2027, meaning the competition winner will be involved right from the start of his racing career.
That is an important part of the appeal.
Rather than winning a small share in a horse whose ability and racing level are already known, the winner will be following a young horse as he develops, goes through training and eventually heads to the racecourse for the first time.
How Do You Enter?
Entry is straightforward.
You simply submit a suggested racing name through the Ownaracehorse competition page. Entrants can also explain why they chose the name, which could help when the final decision is being made.
There are a few rules to remember.
The suggested name must contain no more than 18 characters, including spaces, and it needs to be available for registration. Entrants are advised to check the British Horseracing Authority database before submitting a suggestion, as a name already used by another racehorse could be rejected.
Once entries close on 17 October, Ollie Pears and members of his team, including stable staff, will help choose the winning name.
Only one entry is permitted per email address.
What Exactly Does the Winner Receive?
The first prize is a 1% leased share in the colt for the 2027 Flat season, running from 1 April until 1 November 2027.
Ownaracehorse values the share at more than £800.
The winner will therefore have a considerably larger percentage than the smaller shares normally sold through the company’s standard syndicates, where individual interests can often be around 0.25% or 0.30%.
That 1% interest also means the winner will be entitled to their percentage of qualifying prize money during the share period under the normal terms of the syndicate.
There is no cash alternative, and the winner will need to agree to Ownaracehorse’s normal ownership terms.
Perhaps the more unusual part of the prize, though, is that the horse will actually race under the winner’s suggested name for the rest of his career.
If he turns out to be useful, that could make entering the competition particularly memorable.
It Has Produced a Good Horse Before
There is even some encouragement for anyone dreaming of naming a future winner.
Ownaracehorse has been running naming competitions of this type for 20 years, and one previous winner came up with the name Celestial Flight.
The colt later went on to win the £25,000-added Rous Stakes at York.
Of course, there is no guarantee that the latest unnamed youngster will reach the same level. Naming a racehorse is considerably easier than predicting how good it will eventually become.
But following an unraced two-year-old is one of the more interesting parts of ownership because nobody really knows what they have yet.
A Different Way to Bring People Into Ownership
The competition is also another interesting example of ownership companies trying to make racehorse ownership feel more open to regular racing fans.
Ownaracehorse has been selling small shares online since 2004 and generally limits its standard syndicates to around 50 to 80 people per horse.
Its current small-share horses are generally priced at a few hundred pounds or less, while it also offers larger leased and outright percentages for people wanting greater involvement.
Giving away a 1% share removes the cost altogether for one lucky entrant.
It is also a clever introduction to ownership for people who may never previously have thought seriously about buying a racehorse share.
Someone might enter because they like the idea of naming a horse, then begin following the youngster before he even races.
That connection is exactly what shared ownership is supposed to create.
What Would You Call Him?
The competition remains open until 17 October 2026, so there is still time to come up with something good.
And naming racehorses is harder than it sounds.
The name needs to be available, short enough to meet the rules and preferably something that people will actually enjoy shouting home from the grandstand.
Get it right, though, and you could end up with more than bragging rights.
You could be watching a horse carrying the name you chose while owning 1% of him at the same time.
