Budweiser Clydesdale foal is named Hope

ST. LOUIS - The three-week-old star of Budweiser's Super Bowl ad now has a name: Hope.

Anheuser-Busch said Tuesday that its contest to find a name for the foal born Jan. 16 at the company's Clydesdale ranch in mid-Missouri generated more than 60,000 tweets, Facebook comments and other messages. Hope was one of the more popular names generated through the social media effort.

Other suggestions were nods to the song featured in the commercial, including Landslide - the name of the song - and Stevie - for Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks.

"We were overwhelmed by the response we got," Lori Shambro, brand director for Budweiser, said in a statement.

"Many of our fans wanted a name to reflect their optimism and spirit, which the name Hope encapsulates beautifully," Shambro said.

The ad chronicles the enduring bond of a Clydesdale foal and the horse's trainer. Anheuser-Busch has released a two-minute version available on YouTube.

The young horse proved to have some acting chops: Though a female, she played a male in the 60-second spot "Brotherhood." The commercial ranked No. 1 on USA Today's Ad Meter, a ranking based on fan voting on the USA Today website through Facebook and Twitter.

The foal now weighs 200 pounds and will weigh roughly 2,000 pounds when she is grown, said John Soto, supervisor of Warm Springs Ranch, where Anheuser-Busch raises Clydesdales near Boonville, Mo.

Hope was the second Clydesdale born at Warm Springs Ranch this year. Soto said a male horse was born 36 hours earlier. He has been named Stan, in honor of St. Louis Cardinals great Stan "The Man" Musial, who died last month at age 92.

Two other Clydesdales have since been born at the ranch, and two more are due any day, Soto said. More than 30 Clydesdales are expected to be born in 2013.

The Clydesdales have been associated with Budweiser since 1933. The company introduced them to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition for beer.