The Metric System

Success can be measured by any number of metrics. No matter which statistic you use and despite my tempered expectations heading into last night’s race, Stumbling Block made a strong case for the being the best horse we have ever owned. A few facts to support his case:

1) First and foremost, he is our all time leading purse $$ earner.
2) Last night’s win was # 6 – no horse has ever won more 7 or more races.
3) Only a dozen or so horses in North America have won more races than him in 2009.
4) He has won at least 3 races on 3 different surfaces (very rare).
5) I was concerned about last night’s jock switch – including last night, he has had 16 different jockeys in his 44 lifetime races. 7 different jockeys have had their picture taken with him.
6) All races with us have been at the level we claimed him or higher.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect with any of these numbers is that the phrase “and counting” can be added at the end. He has earned $247 more than Tytus thus far. Hopefully, Block’s story will have a better ending. This debate would not be complete without mentioning Lite Brigade. In addition to his earnings (only $800 less than Block), he added a lot of value from being sold twice for more than what we paid for him. Along with Silver Peagus, his financial contributions came at a time when we desperately needed some cash flow. His success allowed us to aggressively expand the stable – in hindsight, that didn’t go as well as I had hoped. That “careless” spending put us into a hole and Block has been the big shovel we needed to dig our way out.