One afternoon at the race track, an inveterate bettor of this sort, who was known to his buddies as "Sure Thing Sherm," noticed a Catholic priest entering the stable area
with one of the owners.

Shadowing them, our Sherman watched as the clergyman blessed a beautiful thoroughbred.
When the horse next raced, it came in first! Paying close attention, Sherm began to realize that this happened quite often. After checking out this phenomenon very carefully for a few
days, "Sure Thing" began betting only on horses that had been blessed; and he did very well.

Finally, he decided he could risk his life's savings. He drew out everything he had, monitored the priest's comings and goings like
a scholar, and put his entire wad on a
longshot, to win.

You guessed it: That particular horse not only did NOT win, he came in last - dead last.

Horrified and heart-broken, Sherman sought out the priest and begged him to tell him what had gone wrong.

The padre sighed, then explained: "Ah, what a pity. That's the trouble, you see, with you not being able to tell the difference between a Blessing and the Last Rites."