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The South African owners of a gelded racehorse formerly known as ‘President Trump’ have been forced to change its name to ‘Fake News’.
The unraced two-year-old's story went viral earlier this month after it was castrated by the owners of Snaith Raching stables following a bout of unruly behaviour.
However, this new-found fame led to ‘President Trump’ falling foul of the South Africa’s racing regulators, the National Horseracing Authority (NHA), who deemed his name unsuitable.
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An email to Snaith Raching from the NHA, quoted by the Racing Post, explained that the horse’s name had now “become problematic” and needed to be changed.
Justin Snaith, co-owner of the stables, saw a subsequent attempt to change the name to ‘Potus’, the acronym for President of the United States, denied.
According to the Racing Post, Snaith has now applied for the name ‘Fake News’ to be given to the horse and is hopeful of approval.
Jonathan Snaith, Justin’s brother and fellow co-owner, said: “Maybe they had a complaint from the White House.”
‘President Trump’ was gelded earlier this month after becoming difficult to train. Justin Snaith told the Cape Times: “All he wanted to do was jump all the fillies.
“President Trump was also very vocal and would just not focus on his work. I considered blinkers and a tongue-tie but he was so unmanageable that we had little option but to geld him,” he added.
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