A racehorse named “Austrian Painter” has been renamed “Merrylegs” after the organization that oversees thoroughbreds received a complaint that the name was a reference to Adolf Hitler.
As “Austrian Painter,” the horse won a race at Indianapolis Horseshoe on Monday before the Jockey Club issued a statement on Wednesday that it had changed the horse’s name.
“Earlier this week, the registry was notified through a formal complaint that the name was offensive, and we immediately began a review,” the organization stated. “The registrar determined that the name is ineligible.”
The leader of Nazi Germany had a failed career as an artist in his native Austria before World War I, leading “Austrian painter” to commonly be used as a euphemism for Hitler online.
After “Austrian Painter” won the race, some on social media began to point out the name’s association with Jew-hatred.
“I don’t know what’s more out of pocket, that the Jockey Club approved this name or that he won on Yom Kippur,” one racing fan wrote.
The owner of the horse, Scott Herbertson, claimed on Tuesday that the name was, in fact, a reference to Austrian painter Gustav Klimt.
“That’s who I named it after; I’m not changing the name,” Herbertson, who describes himself as a professional poker player, posted on X.
Others pointed out that alternative names Herbertson proposed for the horse also appeared to reference Hitler, including “My Struggle” and “Braunau Star.” Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf translates to “my struggle,” and the Nazi leader was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria. The owner told Horse Racing Nation that his wife’s grandfather was born in the town on Austria’s border with Germany.
The Jockey Club, which is responsible for registering the names of thoroughbred horses in the United States and Canada, said it was also renaming another of Herbertson’s horses, New Order.
Herbertson claimed that the name was a reference to the British post-punk band. Still, the term was used by the Nazis to describe the political order it intended to impose on Europe, including the destruction of the continent’s Jewish population.
Despite his claims that the names of his horses were unrelated to Nazism, Herbertson has previously made offensive statements about Jews in a post about Jewish groups opposing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
“If he loses, you might as well rename our country the jewnited states,” he wrote.
