Wednesday, June 23
From On the Nature and Quality of Horses, a 16th-century manuscript.
Scholastic Principle: A Horse is a Horse, of Course, of Course
I am no great enthusiast of the turf (excepting a handful of youthful readings of the old Black Stallion series and an inexplicable fondness for the movie Seabiscuit) but it is, of course, the sport of kings, if not the King of Kings. Nonetheless, as the Catholic Packer Fan reports, Smarty Jones, this year's not-quite-Triple Crown, has got roots in the Roman Church. Unlike the rumors that Jones was variously running for president and dating Jennifer Lopez, this one seems pretty darn authentic: John Servis, the horse's trainer, belongs to St. Ephem's in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, while one of his aunts (the trainer's, not the horse's) is a Dominican nun. The Little Sisters of the Poor in Queen's Village, NY, also are among the horse's biggest fans, while the owners themselves, Roy and Patricia Chapman, are Catholics too. If that isn't enough to make him Catholic, there's the fact that he ran--and won--the Kentucky Derby while wearing a Sacred Heart medal under his saddle, and even more astonishing, he was born on Ash Wednesday in 2001!
That being said, probably best not to bring him to church. He'd probably drink out of the baptismal font, and I'd shudder to think what sort of dubium the Congregation for Divine Worship would put out on that.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
