Pot8os Backward Glance



He was one of the greatest racehorses of the 18th Century and was known for his endurance ability over four miles (that’s around 6.5 km!). But his stellar racing career (34 wins) was not the only thing this stallion was known for. It was his name, ‘Potatoes’ that got people talking. But how did he become ‘Potoooooooo’?

The story goes that when he was only a young colt he was named ‘Potatoes’ by Willoughby Bertie , the fourth Earl of Abingdon in 1773. One of the stable lads at the time misunderstood his name as ‘Potoooooooo’ (pot with eight o’s). So his feed bin sported this name and the boys had a good laugh at it, even the Earl of Abingdon found it amusing. From that day on the name stuck and the stallion even ran races under this name for a while until it was finally shortened to ‘Pot8os’.

This is no hoax globetrotters, I promise you that! This horse was real. His bloodline can be found in horses such as Medoc from 1829. Thus one of the world’s greatest incidents of wordplay came to be!

Have you come across some bizarre, strange or downright hilarious horse names in your time? I would love to hear them, please feel free to comment below.

Reference: Wikipedia and Horse Nation

Image credits: Mental Floss and Wikioo