'Maybe it's a worse word in English' - trainer explains how Lucky Bastard became the most noteworthy name running on Tuesday

When it comes to naming racehorses, it is extremely rare for anything rude or suggestive to get past Weatherbys, Horse Racing Ireland or France Galop, all of whom are on the lookout for anything which might cause offence or pose any danger of reducing commentators to a fit of the giggles. 

The few that do slip through the net are often cleverly concealed by their spelling in a way that means the fun police don't pick them up at registration. 

So fair play to Czech trainer Vaclav Luka and his owner, whose three-year-old debutant Lucky Bastard will undoubtedly enliven proceedings before and during Chantilly's Prix Traversiere on Tuesday.

There is no subterfuge involved, and the Czech authorities didn't even have to reach for Google Translate or a Collins dictionary before deciding that the son of Van Beethoven didn't contravene any of their naming conventions.

"Bastard is also a word in the Czech language, and I don’t know, maybe it’s a worse word in English," said Luka, a frequent visitor to France from his base at Cizova, 100 kilometres southwest of Prague. "I don’t know exactly what it means in English, but in Czech it’s not too bad; a bastard is just someone who is not a nice guy."

Temperament-wise, it might be that Luka half-knew what to expect when Lucky Bastard – a €9,000 purchase by Czech agent Tomas Janda at the Osarus Yearling Sale – walked into his yard, given he has trained two members of his close family. 

"When this horse came to me he was a little bit problematic," said Luka. "Not really difficult, but I knew the family as I train Ideal King, who is a very good horse.

"But when he [Ideal King] came to the yard as a yearling, he couldn’t be trained, so we had to geld him straight away. We also had to geld Ideal Man as well."

Vaclav Luka: "In Czech the word is not so bad"

Luka added: "This horse wasn’t too bad, but he could get a little bit scared around humans. There was one side you couldn’t really touch him, so he had a few small problems. He’s become quiet and more manageable since we gelded him. 

"The name came from this because when he first came to me, he was a little bit of a bastard! So that’s why we gave him the name."

The Racing Post database reveals that Bastard Saffron was allowed in Japan as recently as 2021, though a search of the internet reveals that is the common nickname for safflower, a cooking substitute for saffron. 

More cunningly, the owners of the 2016-born Little Bustard may have submitted their name to the authorities the night after the Christmas party, although the Giggle Factor partners weren't able to enjoy the joke for very long, given the daughter of Roderic O'Connor was beaten a total of 101 lengths on her only two career starts. 

Weatherbys has a number of rules governing the naming of racehorses, and it's extremely long odds that a 'Bastard' of any kind will appear in the British Stud Book anytime soon.

In 1930, when Lord Rosebery's The Bastard won the Yorkshire Cup, most racegoers on the Knavesmire will have been more familiar with the original use of the word as denoting an illegitimate child, one whose parents were not married at the time of their birth.

That cut no ice with the Australian authorities, who insisted he be renamed The Buzzard before he took up stallion duties at Lyndhurst Stud in Queensland. 

Even film director Quentin Tarantino, a man not averse to causing shock, changed the spelling of his 2009 wartime romp Inglourious Basterds, though in interviews he claimed it was merely an artistic flourish and not to spare the blushes of distributors and cinema chains.

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