A two-year-old racehorse won his debut in the United States, but it was his name that drew the most attention. The Jockey Club, the U.S. organization responsible in part for registering thoroughbred racehorses and approving their names, ordered Austrian Painter to be renamed after determining that the name was a reference to Adolf Hitler. The controversy began after the horse won a race in Indiana on Monday. Following a complaint about the name, the organization opened an investigation.
Hitler was born in Austria and, as a young man, tried to make a living as a painter in Vienna. In recent years, the phrase “Austrian painter” has been used by neo-Nazis online as a way to refer to Hitler without explicitly naming him, including to evade content filters.
A bizarre controversy in US horse racing
(Photo: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)
The horse’s owner and breeder, Scott Herbertson, denied that he intended to commemorate the Nazi dictator. He said the name was inspired by Gustav Klimt, one of Austria’s most famous painters.
But during the controversy, it emerged that before Austrian Painter was approved, Herbertson had submitted two other proposed names: My Struggle, the English translation of the title of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, and Braunau Star, referring to Braunau am Inn, the Austrian town where Hitler was born. Herbertson said his wife’s grandfather also had a connection to the town.
The investigation did not end there. The horse’s full sister, born to the same parents, was named New Order.
Herbertson said he named her after his favorite British rock band, but the phrase is also associated with Nazi plans to reshape Europe under German rule. The Jockey Club ordered that name removed as well, leaving the horse temporarily without a registered name.
Registration rules prohibit names that may be considered offensive or threatening on the basis of race, religion, origin or politics, among other grounds.
“Earlier this week, we received a formal complaint alleging that the name was offensive, and we immediately opened an investigation,” the organization said. “We take these matters seriously.”
The winning horse has already received a new name: Merrylegs. This time, Herbertson’s daughter chose the name, after the gray pony in Anna Sewell’s classic novel Black Beauty.
A racehorse’s registered name follows it through competitions, databases and the sport’s official records, which is why it is subject to Jockey Club approval.
This is not the first time the organization has intervened over a controversial name. In 2019, it ordered a horse named Noose to be renamed because of the term’s racist connotations and its association with the history of lynching Black Americans in the United States.