To answer your amusing question, I first looked up the names of all
past winners of the Kentucky Oaks. The winners in years 1875 through
2001 are listed at the address below.
http://www.runhorse.com/kentucky_oaks_results.html
I learned the name of the 2002 winner from the following page.
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2003/kentucky_oaks/oaks_history/
For the 2003 result, I looked here.
http://www.horse-races.net/library/oaks03-results.htm
I next had to compute the Scrabble value of each name. I have often
played the game with friends, but to make sure I had the right value
for each letter, I consulted the photographed tiles at this page.
http://www.geocities.com/~rosella/scrabble/graphics.html
The rules of Scrabble forbid one to play proper nouns or multiple-word
phrases, so we can only assign pretend values to most of the Oaks
winners' names. Furthermore, the actual value of a word in a game of
Scrabble depends on where it is placed on the board and what words are
adjacent to it, but these matters must be also be ignored if we are to
find a definitive answer.
For our purposes, the value of a horse's name is the sum of the values
of its letters, necessarily ignoring spaces and punctuation. I have
listed below for each past running of the Kentucky Oaks: the year; the
name of the winning horse; a lowercase rendition of the name omitting
punctuation and spacing; the name value as defined above.
1875 Vinaigrette vinaigrette 15
1876 Neecy Hale neecyhale 17
1877 Felicia felicia 12
1878 Belle of Nelson belleofnelson 18
1879 Liahtunah liahtunah 15
1880 Longitude longitude 11
1881 Lucy May lucymay 17
1882 Katie Creel katiecreel 16
1883 Vera vera 7
1884 Modesty modesty 13
1885 Lizzie Dwyer lizziedwyer 36
1886 Pure Rye purerye 12
1887 Florimore florimore 14
1888 Ten Penny tenpenny 13
1889 Jewel Ban jewelban 20
1890 English Lady englishlady 19
1891 Miss Hawkins misshawkins 23
1892 Miss Dixie missdixie 19
1893 Monrovia monrovia 13
1894 Selika selika 10
1895 Voladora voladora 12
1896 Souffle souffle 13
1897 White Frost whitefrost 19
1898 Crocket crocket 15
1899 Rush rush 7
1900 Etta etta 4
1901 Lady Schorr ladyschorr 19
1902 Wainamoinen wainamoinen 16
1903 Lemco lemco 9
1904 Audience audience 11
1905 Janeta janeta 13
1906 King's Daughter kingsdaughter 23
1907 Wing Ting wingting 13
1908 Ellen-a-Dale ellenadale 11
1909 Floreal floreal 10
1910 Samaria samaria 9
1911 Bettie Sue bettiesue 11
1912 Flamma flamma 13
1913 Cream cream 9
1914 Bronzewing bronzewing 25
1915 Waterblossom waterblossom 19
1916 Kathleen kathleen 15
1917 Sunbonnet sunbonnet 11
1918 Viva America vivaamerica 21
1919 Lillian Shaw lillianshaw 17
1920 Lorraine lorraine 8
1921 Nancy Lee nancylee 13
1922 Startle startle 7
1923 Untidy untidy 10
1924 Princess Doreen princessdoreen 19
1925 Deeming deeming 11
1926 Black Maria blackmaria 20
1927 Mary Jane maryjane 20
1928 Easter Stockings easterstockings 22
1929 Rose of Sharon roseofsharon 18
1930 Alcibiades alcibiades 15
1931 Cousin Jo cousinjo 17
1932 Suntica suntica 9
1933 Barn Swallow barnswallow 19
1934 Fiji fiji 14
1935 Paradisical paradisical 16
1936 Two Bob twobob 13
1937 Mars Shield marsshield 16
1938 Flying Lee flyinglee 16
1939 Flying Lill flyinglill 17
1940 Inscolassie inscolassie 13
1941 Valdina Myth valdinamyth 23
1942 Miss Dogwood missdogwood 19
1943 Nellie L. nelliel 7
1944 Canina canina 8
1945 Come and Go comeandgo 15
1946 First Page firstpage 15
1947 Blue Grass bluegrass 12
1948 Challe Anne challeanne 15
1949 Wistful wistful 13
1950 Ari's Mona arismona 10
1951 How how 9
1952 Real Delight realdelight 16
1953 Bubbley bubbley 16
1954 Fascinator fascinator 15
1955 Lalun lalun 5
1956 Princess Turia princessturia 17
1957 Lori-El loriel 6
1958 Bug Brush bugbrush 16
1959 Wedlock wedlock 17
1959 Hidden Talent hiddentalent 17
1960 Make Sail makesail 14
1961 My Portrait myportrait 17
1962 Cicada cicada 11
1963 Sally Ship sallyship 17
1964 Blue Norther bluenorther 16
1965 Amerivan amerivan 13
1966 Native Street nativestreet 15
1967 Nancy Jr. nancyjr 19
1968 Dark Mirage darkmirage 18
1969 Hail to Patsy hailtopatsy 19
1970 Lady Vi-E. ladyvie 14
1971 Silent Beauty silentbeauty 17
1972 Susan's Girl susansgirl 11
1973 Bag of Tunes bagoftunes 16
1974 Quaze Quilt quazequilt 37
1975 Sun and Snow sunandsnow 14
1976 Optimistic Gal optimisticgal 20
1977 Sweet Alliance sweetalliance 18
1978 White Star Line whitestarline 19
1979 Davona Dale davonadale 15
1980 Bold 'n Determined boldndetermined 22
1981 Heavenly Cause heavenlycause 24
1982 Blush With Pride blushwithpride 28
1983 Princess Rooney princessrooney 21
1984 Lucky Lucky Lucky luckyluckylucky 42
1985 Fran's Valentine fransvalentine 20
1986 Tiffany Lass tiffanylass 20
1987 Buryyourbelief buryyourbelief 27
1988 Goodbye Halo goodbyehalo 21
1989 Open Mind openmind 13
1990 Seaside Attraction seasideattraction 20
1991 Lite Light litelight 13
1992 Luv Me Luv Me Not luvmeluvmenot 23
1993 Dispute dispute 10
1994 Sardula sardula 8
1995 Gal in a Ruckus galinaruckus 19
1996 Pike Place Dancer pikeplacedancer 28
1997 Blushing K. D. blushingkd 21
1998 Keeper Hill keeperhill 19
1999 Silverbulletday silverbulletday 24
2000 Secret Status secretstatus 14
2001 Flute flute 8
2002 Farda Amiga fardaamiga 17
2003 Bird Town birdtown 14
From this list, we see that the 1984 winner, Lucky Lucky Lucky, has
the highest name value at 42 points.
If we restrict consideration only to those names that are single-word
common nouns and therefore valid for play under official Scrabble
rules, the list is abbreviated as follows. Note that "floreal" and
"paradisical" are words not much seen outside the Oxford English
Dictionary.
1875 Vinaigrette vinaigrette 15
1880 Longitude longitude 11
1884 Modesty modesty 13
1896 Souffle souffle 13
1898 Crocket crocket 15
1899 Rush rush 7
1904 Audience audience 11
1909 Floreal floreal 10
1913 Cream cream 9
1922 Startle startle 7
1923 Untidy untidy 10
1925 Deeming deeming 11
1935 Paradisical paradisical 16
1949 Wistful wistful 13
1951 How how 9
1954 Fascinator fascinator 15
1959 Wedlock wedlock 17
1962 Cicada cicada 11
1993 Dispute dispute 10
2001 Flute flute 8
Among these names, the most valuable belongs to the 1959 winner,
Wedlock, at 17 points.
If you find my answer incomplete or inaccurate in any way, please post
a clarification request and give me a chance to meet your needs before
you assign a rating.
Cheers,
leapinglizard |
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