Horse. Snooker. Truth, Thursday 26 November 1896
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In 1836, a report was published about horse racing, in which horses with the nicknames Ruby and Snooker participated. Ruby, owned by Mr Ainsworth, defeated Snooker, owned by Mr Davis. It is noteworthy that in the first newspaper publication to mention a horse named Snooker, the main characters are two gentlemen with names known to every snooker fan.
From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, there was a proliferation of newspaper articles about animals with the nickname Snooker. These included horses, dogs, cats, calves and even pigeons. In the 1930s, one page of a sports newspaper devoted several columns to a horse named Snooker, owned by Mr. J. B. Joel. The game of snooker was also mentioned in the small article on the same page.