this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2026
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The Jockey Club, the leading sanctioning body in what’s left of the sport of horse racing in the U.S., sent out a clear message Wednesday to anybody thinking of naming their horse after Hitler: Don’t name your horse after Hitler.

The two-year-old colt Austrian Painter made his racing debut Monday with a win in the third race at Horseshoe Indianapolis Racecourse. Obligatory: He covered the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.97, and paid $9.00. Afterward, the Jockey Club received objections about the victorious newcomer, but these weren't the standard post-race protests about a jockey’s obstructing or dangerous ride or a horse’s drug abuse. No, these complaints were about the horse’s name. Because, as reported by ESPN in its Austrian Painter story, “Hitler was born in Austria and was an artist.”

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[–] CombatWombat@feddit.online 90 points 2 days ago (3 children)

How is this dude not fully banned from everything ever

It's a pattern for Herbertson. He had submitted other names to the Jockey Club for Austrian Painter, including "My Struggle" and "Braunau Star." The former is the English translation for Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf, which he wrote while in prison; the latter seems to be a reference to Hitler's birthplace Braunau am Inn, although Herbertson claimed it was referencing the birthplace of his wife's grandfather. He also said "Austrian Painter" was a reference to Gustav Klimt.

[–] HocEnimVeni@lemmy.world 31 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Are one of his wife's parents from Argentina?

[–] ClipperDefiance@piefed.social 6 points 2 days ago

This article says that the owner claims that his wife's grandfather was coincidentally from the same town as Hitler.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

or african, theres an elected official in africa named hitler/adolf..

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

How is this dude not fully banned from everything ever

I’ve never heard of a race horse owner that isn’t rich.

They're literally animal abusers. You think they have a moral compass?

Wow, when a bunch of greedy animal abusing assholes issue sanctions against you, you know you did something atrocious.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 44 points 2 days ago

You know when there's a guy who won't quit talking about how much of a Nazi he is a good solution is for everyone to just beat the living shit out of him. Have they tried that?

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

At first I thought it was pretty funny, then I read about that guy. Yeah fuck him.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I dunno. Reading about him now. Did he actually even kill anyone? You guys have clearly never experienced rejection before, let alone from an art school. It's pretty traumatic. Having a horse named to tell your story is a pretty decent honor.

Edit: reading a little further now... Ok, Yeah, he was one of the baddies. Sorry.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

We live in a time where dogwhistles have meaning. There can be no tolerance for fascism.

... a horse's drug abuse

"Hey, mister! You got any horse pills? I'll give ya somethin' for 'em! You ... you wanna ride me?"

[–] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Registered horse names are so fucking stupid aside from the one racehorse I know named Five. That's his whole registered name which is so short and honestly hilarious. Oh! Potoooooooo is also great.

[–] marighost@piefed.social 11 points 2 days ago (3 children)

You got an issue with Kidslookin Touchable?

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 days ago

Didn’t know Epstein had a horse, but not surprised.

[–] GrindingGears@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That’s the derpiest horse I’ve ever seen.

[–] marighost@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

According to my wife, a horse girl, KidslookinTouchable is severely inbred.

[–] GrindingGears@lemmy.ca 1 points 18 hours ago

Jesus is she ever right. That’s like I’m-my-own-grandpa level shit. Now that you mention it, I think I’ve heard of this horse before.

[–] zarathustrad@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Oh Rick Leek's Quarter Horses?

It's no Richard "Dick" Leeky's Stud Muffin Stable, but I'm sure he does good work.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I came to the thread to mention Potoooooooo, so you almost gave me a clear thread to do so. lol. So I'll just explain for the slow ones (It took me a while to get it the first time I saw it) - that's "pot-eight-o" i.e. "Potato" lol

[–] moondoggie@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The way they wrote that, I was thinking that Austrian Painter was a kind of horse. “You brought it on yourselves, horse breeders!” Then after a couple of reads, I got that the owner named it that. Of course, I was still doing math on those obligatory numbers to see if any of them were divisible by 88.

[–] egrets@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I thought the same initially, especially since American Paint Horse is a common enough breed.

[–] Danarchy@lemmy.nz 7 points 2 days ago

I said name the horse GLASS of JUICE!

-That guy, prolly

[–] BC_viper@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Hmm another Austrian painter banned. Im sure it will go well.

[–] huquad@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

I did nazi that coming

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

...what’s left of the sport of horse racing in the U.S.

What does this mean, I wonder.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

In the state of California, the handles and starts are down over 55% in the last 26 years with an average of -3.4% YOY. The industry also kills an average of 1.5 horses per week for the last 6 years, just at the tracks in California alone.

I'm intentionally leaving out the 2019 fatalities, as that year would push the average above 2.25 horses dead per week, and was a bit of an outlier.

Basically, the industry is dying, and the tracks are more valuable as developable land.

#KillRacingNotHorses

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

Damn... really?

Thank you for explaining, in any case.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Seems like horse racing is getting less and less popular over time. Most racetracks I know of near me have slots and other gaming machines in them now, and I bet the slots subsidize the horse racing.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ah, makes sense.

At the same time, the actual owning and racing of horses seems like mostly a rich peoples' sport, so I wonder how that's working for them...

[–] zarathustrad@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's a special K shaped economy.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wasn't that a... outdated breakfast-cereal, or something?

(good luck if there's a whole economy based around that disaster, lol)

[–] zarathustrad@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fun facts: (AKA explain the joke, making it less funny to some, but more funny to me)

Special K is also slang for ketamine, a drug popular with some high profile oligarchs and other elites.

So the "K" in K-shaped economy (wealth divergence) and the "K" in Special K (ketamine) land on the same social group *the ultra-wealthy on the top arm of the K * making the letter a convenient pun for commentary on inequality and privilege.

[–] Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

A blow to the successful austria painters.

[–] Pratai@piefed.ca 4 points 2 days ago

Who’d have thought small people would be fascists?