Josef Aichner rewrites history

Initially, nothing hinted at this passion. Aichner himself had never ridden – not even once. It was his children, Devid and Nadine, who first sat in the saddle on the neighboring farm and soon tried their hand at Haflinger races. A father who watched his children catch the bug – and eventually realized that the spark had already passed to him. No master plan, no strategy. Just a man who suddenly started calculating how many more horses could fit on the farm. In the end, there were twenty.

As early as 2009, a glimpse of where things might lead began: Fatal Mac ran for him in the "Velka Pardubicka," arguably the toughest steeplechase in Europe – long before it even became an official racing stable. It wasn't until 2014 that Aichner Senior got serious, and in 2017, together with Devid, he founded "Scuderia Aichner." Wearing a short-sleeved shirt even at the big races, often carrying the saddle himself to the paddock, right in the middle of the stable hands rather than above them – a man who quite casually became the country's most important racehorse owner, without ever being too proud for the job.

L'Estran: A bargain that became a legend A promise had been made early on. "Let me tell you something, Devid," Sepp is said to have once told his son, "one day we'll win the Merano Grand Prix together." It sounded like a dream, nothing more.

Always in a good mood: Josef Aichner.

Then, at an ordinary selling race in France, his gaze fell upon an unassuming horse. Nothing that immediately stood out was available for a modest €24.001. He bought it, without anyone suspecting what he was getting his hands on – except perhaps himself. The horse was called L'Estran. In 2019, it soared over the final hurdle in Merano and into the Grand Prix – Sepp's dream had come true. The promise kept. And L'Estran didn't stop there: in 2020, 2021, and 2022, three more victories in the same race followed. Four in a row, a record that no one has been able to surpass since.

L'Estran wasn't the only one to wear the black and yellow colors. Mauricius swept through virtually every major hurdle race in the country, and Notti Magiche, Champ de Bataille, and the rest of the stable's seemingly endless list of top horses brought additional class to Scuderia Aichner. Kaja matured into one of the most talented mares of her generation. Over 80 Group wins in Italy, seven consecutive owner titles from 2019 onwards – a dominance that was virtually unparalleled. And in 2023, Suroit finally broke the national mold: victory in the Grand Prix de la Ville de Nice in Cagnes-sur-Mer, plus a historic fifth place in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, the most prestigious hurdle race on the continent.

The soul kinship in Bohemia All of this was made possible by a connection considered unusually close even in the racing world: the one with the Vana family of trainers in the Karlovy Vary region of the Czech Republic. Josef Vana Jr. succeeded his father in 2019, leading the Aichner horses to the top of European racing. What began in 2017 as the simple registration of a Czech racing stable became the most successful chapter Czech horse racing has ever seen.

The extent of his reputation became evident precisely when Sepp Aichner himself could no longer perform as he wished. During his illness, he received video messages from Mike Smith and Frankie Dettori, both world-class jockeys, with well wishes for his recovery. Dettori is known for his "Magnificent 7"—seven wins in all the main races at Royal Ascot in 1996. This was no coincidence, but rather the reward for two decades in which his name had made its way to America.

Almost defiantly, his success continued until the very end. Just one day before his death, the four-year-old Woods won the spring criterium in Merano on June 14th – it was already his fourth consecutive victory.

Now it's up to Devid and his family to continue his father's life's work, together with a Czech family that has long since become their own. The hose Sepp used to hose down his horses will now be held by someone else. The underlying principle remains the same.

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Josef Aichner rewrites history

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