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The story
A 2-year-old racehorse named “The Austrian Painter” is set to be renamed just two days after notching its first win. According to a report from The Athletic, the name was flagged for evoking Adolf Hitler, who was born in Austria and is known for having failed the entrance exam to an art academy in Vienna as a young man. On the 5ch sports/entertainment board, opinions clashed between those saying “the obvious association is Klimt or Egon Schiele” or “this is overthinking it,” and others suggesting the deliberately vague name might have been an intentional prank.
2-year-old colt evokes “Hitler,” to be renamed two days after first win — The Athletic: Asahi Shimbun
September 30, 2026, 8:00 AM
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Source: asahi.com / Read the original article
What people said
don't you think of Klimt or Egon Schiele first?
I immediately thought of H.R. Giger, but
turns out he was Swiss.
Yeah, that's the normal association
Assuming it's a dig at Hitler is way overthinking it.
There's no way the average American has that kind of art-history knowledge.
Then they should've just named it Klimt
Being deliberately vague is exactly why it's getting flak.
That's what a normal person would think.
gonna do another episode like
"The scars of the war run so deep that even a horse named after an Austrian painter had to be renamed"?
So the horse's name would be "North Black Phone" lol
since apparently Austria = Hitler now.
So the nation of art has become "the country whose name must not be spoken"?
Isn't it exactly 9 characters in katakana?
At least "Austrian painter" could technically mean Klimt.
Word-policing a kids' anime, that's taking it too far lol
That's literally it.
And he flunked art school, so he wasn't even a painter to begin with
This complaint is absurd.
Say "Adler" and people think of the psychologist instead.
Background and Points of Debate
Racehorse names are vetted in advance by each country’s racing authority, and names that evoke real people or are deemed inappropriate can be rejected or ordered changed. In this case, after the win, the name “The Austrian Painter” was flagged as evoking Hitler (known for failing the entrance exam to a Vienna art academy), and the renaming was decided following The Athletic’s report. Opinions on the thread split between “the natural association should be Klimt or Egon Schiele — this is reading too much into it” and “the deliberately vague name itself may have been an intentional prank.” Though not obvious to Japanese speakers, the Hitler anecdote is widely known in English-speaking countries because of its historical background, and differing interpretations of the namer’s intent are at the center of the disagreement.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Horse Racing] 2-Year-Old Colt “The Austrian Painter” Evokes “Hitler,” to Be Renamed Two Days After First Win — The Athletic.”
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