In 1894, the winner of Melbourne Cup — a horse race that’s been held in Australia every year since the early 1860s — was a horse named Patron (ridden by a jockey named Henry Dawes).
The day of the race, a baby girl “was born in one of the dressing rooms at Flemington [Racecourse].”
Her name? Patrona.
Source: “Born at Flemington.” Smith’s Weekly 20 Sept. 1919: 8.
Image: Adapted from Patron, 1894 Melbourne Cup winner postcard (public domain)
I think Patrona is nice enough name, a little different but not at all ‘odd’. The baby actually picked a good race at which to be born, all three top finishers all had names that could be easily used, and a couple other in the rest of the field did as well. Devon (2nd) is fine as is and Nada (3rd) could easily be Nadia or Nayda.
Some of the others in the race that day included Paris, Ronda, Nightingale & Lady Trenton. Thankfully, Bruin & Havoc lost and Carnage was scratched so no danger of those being used.
Haha I’m thankful no babies (that we know of) were named after Carnage!
Thank you for researching the names of the other horses in the race. :)