Not Everything That Can Be Counted Counts

Back in the days when it was common belief that the world was flat most people believed it to be true. Although there were a few scholarly souls out there who thought otherwise; they kept their ideas to themselves rather than be burned at the stake in some jurisdictions. The commonly held belief now under scrutiny is that a horse can't win the Derby off just two preps.

As trainers go, Carl Nafzger and Kenny McPeek could be thought to be living in an ivory tower with a Breeders Cup Classic, Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and numerous other Grades 1 wins to their credit. More than a few of those wins were at the expense of commonly held beliefs by others that horses in question were not up to the task at the time.

This time the Inquisition is in Dallas and Gary West is holding the match ready to burn Nafzger, McPeek and their two prep disciples for this heresy. But we all know that commonly held beliefs are often wrong except for one of mine that certain pages of the Star Telegram make for good kindling and wee-wee pads :-)

Last year Barbaro put the four-week layoff belief to rest and in the recent years commonly held beliefs about the superiority of certain three-year olds like Bellamy Road and Empire Maker where laid to rest by geldings like Funny Cide and non winners of two like Giacomo. Counting prep races can be a foolish thing, as a scholarly man once said “Not everything that can be counted counts; and not everything that counts can be counted.