Who is Skibidi Rizz, and how did he get that name?

The most popular horse in training right now might not be Sovereignty or Journalism but a 1-for-7 gelding named Skibidi Rizz.

A recent winner of a $20,000 maiden claiming race at Horseshoe Indianapolis, Skibidi Rizz is among the most searched-for horses on Horse Racing Nation, and his race replay has more than 100,000 views on announcer Nathan Klein’s Youtube channel Sketchy the Horse Guy.

"I knew he was a meme when I saw tweets about him break 100,000 likes (on the social media platform X)," said Klein, who got to announce Skibidi Rizz’s win thanks to his internship with Horseshoe under the tutelage of regular announcer John G. Dooley. "Part of my internship is I get to call two races a day; John even lets me pick, so when I noticed Skibidi Rizz was entered I immediately asked to call that race."

Skibidi Rizz currently races for a partnership of trainer John Haran’s Haran Thoroughbreds and Mike Ryan’s Clabar Mor Stables. They are his second owners, so they were not responsible for naming Skibidi Rizz. That distinction belongs to Brandon Bowen's Bowen Stable, who had purchased the horse privately as an unraced and unnamed 2-year-old.

"We hadn’t named the horse until it came time to enter him, so before his first start I asked my son to come up with a name and told him to have fun with it," Bowen said. "He came up with Skibidi Rizz, and I said, ‘What the hell is that?’ and he tried to tell me about brainrot and the whole secret language kids have. I was just like, "OK, whatever, let’s have fun with it.’ "

Klein pointed to the Japanese game Uma Musume:Pretty Derby as helping amplify the Skibidi Rizz buzz. Uma Musume is a Japanese multimedia franchise that includes the mobile game Pretty Derby, which just had its first release in North America. The game features animated anime-style girls known as Uma Musume (horse girls) who get their inspiration from real-life Thoroughbreds.

"When he won I thought a few people would laugh, but I had no idea so many people would rejoice over this and it’s been amazing to see," Klein said. "There is a lot of fan drawings already, and this is just a great example of the unique moments horse racing can create."

Shadwell Farm bred Skibidi Rizz in Kentucky. He is by Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist out of the Into Mischief mare Mischief mare Sinwaan, the same female family as Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches and multiple Group 1 winner Peeping Fawn.