Editing Count Fleet (section)

==Background==
Count Fleet was [[foal]]ed at [[Stoner Creek Stud]] farm in [[Paris, Kentucky]] in 1940. He was bred and owned by Fannie Hertz, the wife of [[John D. Hertz]] of [[The Hertz Corporation|rental car company]] fame. Hertz became involved in horse racing in the 1920s and purchased eventual [[Kentucky Derby]] winner [[Reigh Count]] as a two-year-old in 1927. Reigh Count became a moderately successful sire, but his offspring were known more for stamina than speed and tended to develop late. Rather than pension the now unpopular stallion, Hertz decided to breed Reigh Count to only four mares a year, focusing on speed-oriented mares to balance the stamina influence of Reigh Count. One of these mares was the aptly named Quickly (by Haste), who had won 32 races from 85 starts, all of them at distances of six furlongs or less. Quickly's first foal with Reigh Count, a filly named Reigh Fleet, was unplaced in seven starts. Quickly was barren the next year, then produced Count Fleet in 1940.<ref name="Drager">{{cite book|last1=Drager|first1=Marvin|title=The most glorious crown|date=1975|publisher=Winchester Press|location=New York|isbn=0-87691-159-9|chapter=6 - Count Fleet|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/mostgloriouscrow00drag}}</ref>

Count Fleet was not a particularly attractive horse, called "narrow, light-waisted, and flat-muscled" by one expert and too leggy and light boned by others. He also had an unruly temperament.<ref name="ACP">{{cite web|title=Count Fleet (horse)|url=http://www.americanclassicpedigrees.com/count-fleet.html|website=American Classic Pedigrees|access-date=15 October 2017}}</ref> John Hertz initially did not think much of Count Fleet and contemplated selling him until jockey [[Johnny Longden]] convinced him to keep the colt.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://horseracing.about.com/library/blcountf.htm |title=Horse racing: 1943 Triple Crown |publisher=Horseracing.about.com |access-date=2013-06-21 |archive-date=2017-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110212133/http://horseracing.about.com/library/blcountf.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Count Fleet was trained by [[Gregory Duncan Cameron|Don Cameron]] and ridden by future [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] inductee Longden.